TAINAN, Taiwan (AP) — With anxious families waiting nearby, rescuers painstakingly pulled more survivors from the remains of a collapsed high-rise apartment building Sunday, a day after a powerful earthquake shook southern Taiwan and killed at least 26 people. More than 100 people remained missing in the building's rubble.

The government in Tainan, the worst-hit city, said that more than 170 people had been rescued from the 17-story building following the magnitude-6.4 quake that struck before dawn Saturday.

Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te said there were an estimated 124 people still trapped, many at the bottom of the wreckage. Lai said they were able to rescue many people by using information from residents who got out on the possible locations of those still inside.

Eighth-floor resident Huang Guang-wei was pulled out Sunday morning from a different section from where he lived, showing how distorted the building is, Lai said. Rescuers could see Huang only through a 10-centimeter (4-inch) crack and it took eight hours to get him out, Lai said.

Also rescued from the rubble was Chiu Guo-hsiung, 32, who was able to tell rescuers his name and other information.

Among the fatalities was a 6-month-old baby girl who was pulled from the rubble and rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A man believed to be her father was pulled out 40 minutes later, but was already dead, said Wang Ding-Yu, an official from Taiwan's ruling party. Information posted on a board at the site had previously said incorrectly that a woman had been pulled out with the baby.

A man in his 60s, whose son escaped and whose daughter-in-law was in serious condition in a hospital, was trying to help rescuers pinpoint his grandsons. "My 11- and 12-year-old grandsons are still inside on the ninth floor," said the man, who gave only his surname, Huang. "I told my son not to buy an apartment here; it was suspiciously cheap."

Beside him, another man nodded in agreement as he waited for news of his own relatives on the seventh floor.

The city government said that 24 of the 26 confirmed deaths were from the building collapse. They said that 171 had been rescued from the building, 91 of whom were sent to hospitals. More than 100 people were rescued from other parts of Tainan, eight of whom received hospital treatment.

The spectacular fall of the high-rise immediately raised questions about whether construction of the 1989 structure had been shoddy. Tainan's government said the building was not listed as a dangerous structure before the quake, and the interior minister, Chen Wei-zen, said an investigation would examine whether the developer had cut corners. Nine other buildings in the city collapsed and five careened.

On Sunday, thousands of rescuers in red, orange, yellow and black uniforms worked on different levels of the folded building, which was supported by steel pillars. Rescuer Su Yu-min said they were trying to cut through walls and pillars to go down farther to try to reach people trapped in the bottom part of the rubble.

"It takes a few hours to complete a search for just one household and sometimes it takes two hours just to go forward 30 centimeters (12 inches)" when the way is blocked by a wall, he said.

Taiwanese broadcaster EBC showed video of volunteers trying to comfort the mother of a missing 20-year-old man, Chen Guan-yu. "He always thinks of me," said the woman, whose name was not given. "He worries about me being single and lonely and that no one is taking care of me."

The quake came two days before the start of Lunar New Year celebrations that mark the most important family holiday in the Chinese calendar.

The operators of Taiwan's high-speed rail announced Sunday that the service would resume full operation from noon. The earthquake had damaged power lines near Tainan Station and caused major disruption to the system at a busy time when many people were returning home to celebrate.

Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan, but most are minor and cause little or no damage. However, a magnitude-7.6 quake in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people.

___

Associated Press writer Louise Watt and news assistant Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report.