Iran quake death toll could reach 30,000

The death toll from the earthquake that devastated the southeastern Iranian city of Bam on Friday could reach 30,000, an official from the provincial government said yesterday.

"I believe the toll will reach 30,000," the official from the office of the governor of Kerman province where Bam is situated said. "Some outlying villages are even more badly damaged than Bam, they are 100 per cent destroyed," he added.

Interior Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani said earlier the toll had reached 22,000 and Iran was "expecting more than this".

Khanjani added that 20,500 bodies had been recovered and buried by 3 p.m. (1130 GMT).

UN Humanitarian Affairs Officer Jesper Lund, heading the UN coordination team, said 22 international search and rescue teams were still scouring the ruins for survivors but would probably soon switch to helping those already found.

Aid workers estimate more than 100,000 people may have been left homeless.

Aid has been pouring in from around the world, including Iran's arch-foe the United States, to help deal with what appeared to be the world's most lethal earthquake in at least 10 years.

The stench of death filled Iran's earthquake-devastated city of Bam yesterday and fears of epidemics and looting grew as hopes dwindled for those still buried by the disaster.

Cemeteries overflowed with corpses while mullahs in shirt-sleeves rather than their usual flowing robes and wearing face-masks against the dust and smell tore sheeting to shroud corpses.

With no time to wash them according to Islamic practice, bodies brought in blankets from wrecked buildings were sprayed with disinfectant to try to guard against disease and tipped into trenches hollowed out by mechanical diggers.

State television said 16,000 bodies had been recovered and buried while aid workers estimated more than 100,000 people may have been left homeless.

United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Officer Jesper Lund, heading the UN coordination team, said 22 international search and rescue teams were still scouring the ruins for survivors but would probably soon switch to helping those already found.