A powerful earthquake in Morocco has killed more than 800 people and injured hundreds more, the country's deadliest tremor in more than six decades, toppling houses in remote mountain villages where rescuers dug through rubble for survivors,
Reuters reports.
The magnitude 7.2 quake struck in Morocco's High Atlas mountains late on Friday night. The Interior Ministry said 820 people had been killed and another 672 injured. Most of the fatalities are in mountainous areas outside Marrakech, the nearest city to the epicentre, its updated toll showed.
In the village of Amizmiz, some 60 km (40 miles) south of Marrakech, rescue workers picked through the rubble.
"When I felt the earth shaking beneath my feet and the house leaning, I rushed to get my kids out. But my neighbours couldn’t," said Mohamed Azaw. "Unfortunately no one was found alive in that family. The father and son were found dead and they are still looking for the mother and the daughter."
About 20 men including firefighters and soldiers in fatigues stood atop the ruin of a house in Amizmiz as they tried to remove rubble, bits of carpet and furniture protruding from gaps between pancaked concrete floors.
In Marrakech, where 13 people were confirmed dead, residents spent the night in the open, afraid to go home.
Buildings in its old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, suffered damage. A mosque minaret had fallen in Jemaa al-Fna Square, the heart of the old city.
