Earthquake death toll to top 30,000

Survivors of Iran’s earthquake scavenged the rubble for their battered belongings and desperately jostled for aid handouts as the death toll rose to 28,000, with even more feared dead.

President Mohammed Khatami said the toll was expected to top 30,000 – roughly a third of the population in the southeastern city of Bam – but said the figure “definitely won’t reach 40,000”.