Death toll in Moroccan earthquake hits over 2000

Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in more than six decades has killed more than 2,000 people, injured 2,059 and laid waste to villages.

Among the injured, 1,404 are in critical condition.

Earlier figure of the dead given by the Interior Ministry was 1305.

As survivors huddled for a night in the open on the High Atlas Mountains on Saturday, neighbours were still searching for more survivors buried on the slopes.

There houses of mud brick, stone and rough wood were cracked open and mosque minarets toppled by the quake that struck late on Friday.

The historic old city of Marrakech also suffered extensive damage.

The Interior Ministry said 2,012 people had been killed and 2,059 injured, . T

he U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6.8 with an epicentre some 72 km (45 miles) southwest of Marrakech.

In the village of Amizmiz near the epicentre, rescue workers picked through rubble with their bare hands. Fallen masonry blocked narrow streets. Outside a hospital, around 10 bodies lay covered in blankets as grieving relatives stood nearby.

“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.”