'Apocalypse' preacher apologises for getting it wrong

An American preacher who claimed the world would end on Saturday has apologised for getting it wrong.

Harold Camping said "human error" caused the mistake, but insisted the world is still nigh.

The evangelical broadcaster is standing by his prediction of earth's total destruction on October 21.

"Spiritually, there's a big difference in the world that we can't detect with our eyes, but we can know from the Bible," he said.