Nepal earthquake: No possibility of finding more quake survivors

[KATHMANDU] Nepal's government ruled out the possibility Saturday of finding more survivors buried in the rubble from last weekend's massive earthquake as it announced the death toll had risen to 6,621.

"It has already been one week since the disaster," home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal told AFP.

"We are trying our best in rescue and relief work but now I don't think that there is any possibility of survivors under the rubble." As well as updating the death toll, Mr Dhakal put the number of injured at 14,023.

The 7.8-magnitude quake, which was the deadliest in Nepal for more than 80 years, devastated vast swathes of the country when it erupted around midday last Saturday and reduced much of the capital Kathmandu to ruins.

While multiple teams of rescuers from more than 20 countries have been using sniffer dogs and heat-seeking equipment to find survivors in the rubble, no one has been pulled alive since Thursday evening.

More than 100 people were also killed in neighbouring India and China.

AFP

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