Desperate rescue workers were continuing their efforts to find survivors trapped under layers of rubble after a huge explosion ripped through a plastics factory.

The death toll from a devastating earthquake in northern Algeria neared 2,200 today.

Disaster agencies were tonight on standby after up to 500 people died in an earthquake which rocked Iran.

British rescuers have pulled a seventh survivor from the rubble of the Indian earthquake five days after the disaster which it is feared could claim 100,000 lives.