No signs of life as quake toll rises

Bulldozers have gone in after sniffer dogs and heartbeat detectors failed in a final attempt to locate more survivors of the El Salvador earthquake.

The official death toll has now reached 682 - 676 in El Salvador and at least six in Guatemala - and hopes are fading that many more bodies will be found.

Some houses are buried forever at the bottom of deep valleys, while the force of the landslide ripped open cars and badly-mangled bodies, making it difficult to recover remains.

Officials say more than 2,500 people were injured by Saturday's quake, while 45,000 have had to be evacuated.

Comasagua, a city 17 miles west of the capital that was rendered inaccessible by landslides, had been reduced to a jumble of mangled houses, although only six people were reported dead.

There is little hope that anyone will be found alive in the Las Colinas neighbourhood just outside the capital, where the magnitude-7.6 quake buried hundreds of houses.

Taiwanese rescuers have combed the partially excavated area with equipment designed to detect heartbeats, and Spanish and Mexican volunteers followed dogs sniffing for signs of life buried in the mounds.