Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Death toll in Iran quake could top 50,000: Govt official
Agence France-Presse Kerman (Iran), December 30
The death toll in the earthquake which devastated the Bam region of south-east Iran could exceed 50,000, a senior provincial official said on Tuesday.
"The number of dead could exceed 50,000 because some districts (of Bam) and some surrounding villages have not been properly searched yet," said the official in the Kerman disaster zone, asking not to be named.
"In some instances, whole families have been wiped out and so there is nobody to inform the rescue teams," he said.
Some 28,000 corpses have so far been pulled out of the rubble and buried, Iranian state radio reported earlier on Tuesday, quoting local government officials.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003.