Almost 3,000 people are reported to have died in the earthquake that hit Morocco on Friday, but the death toll continues to rise as search and rescue teams comb through mountains of rubble.
Hopes of finding any more survivors are fading given blocked roads are impeding access to the worst-hit areas in remote villages in rural, mountainous areas.
Morocco is now well past the 72-hour window when rescues are considered most likely, yet survivors are in some cases found well beyond that period.
The death toll currently stands at 2,901, Morocco’s Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday, and 5,530 have been injured in the country’s deadliest earthquake since 1960 and the most powerful since 1900.
Vehicles packed with supplies were inching up winding mountain roads to deliver desperately needed food and tents to survivors. Search teams were in places still scouring the rubble for the living.
So far, search and rescue teams from Qatar, the United Kingdom, Spain and the United Arab Emirates have been operating on the ground alongside Moroccan emergency teams, the military and other officials.
