40,000 Feared Dead In Iran

Iran's supreme leader pledged Monday to rebuild the earthquake-shattered ancient city of Bam, shortly after two aftershocks rattled survivors and caused some of the few remaining walls to tumble.

The official death toll stands at 25,000, but local medical workers believe the number could be as high as 40- to 50,000, reports CBS News Correspondent Lisa Barron. However, it could be another month before all the bodies are recovered and the actual number is finalized.

There is a consensus that there is little likelihood of finding any more survivors, and the rescue operation will end at midnight, when the focus will shift to humanitarian aid.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visited the devastated city, and told hundreds of victims gathered in the street that he shared their grief.

"I've come here to express my condolences and tell you that I share your grief at the beloved ones who have died," he said.

"All of us are responsible to meet the demands of the survivors," he said. "Aid should continue to come so that, God willing, the city of Bam is rebuilt better and this time stronger than before. We can build a strong and developed city out of this devastation."

More than 25,000 bodies have been retrieved since Friday's 6.6-magnitude earthquake shook the city and surrounding region in southeast Iran, according to provincial government spokesman Asadollah Iranmanesh.

"Many, many more people remain buried under the rubble, increasing fears of a much greater death toll at the end," Iranmanesh said.

Hopes of finding more survivors faded as sunrise Monday marked 72 hours since the quake hit, entombing thousands of sleeping residents in their homes. Experts say 72 hours is generally the longest people can survive if they are trapped in rubble.

Rescue workers from around the world have joined Iranians in searching through powdery debris that left little room for air pockets, which could allow people to survive while awaiting help.

Germany's THW government aid agency has called off its search for survivors of the earthquake, spokesman Nicolas Hefner said Monday. He said there were no longer any signals such as knocking sounds to be heard, and no more indications from local people of possible survivors. The team had not found any survivors and was returning to Germany Saturday.

But Eric Soupra, spokesman for the French team, said rescuers must continue searching despite the fading chances of finding survivors.

"There have been miracles in earthquakes before, in other cities, in other countries, and so we must continue searching," he told France's RTL radio.

The Italian team also planned to continue searching all day.

"Even if the lengthy amount of time that has passed since the quake doesn't inspire optimism, we still haven't definitively abandoned hope of finding survivors," said Agostino Miozzo, head of the Italian civil protection corps and coordinator of the European aid response team in Bam.

The Russian search team had hope for survivors Sunday when a Labrador signaled some signs of life beneath the rubble — but the team found only a cat, a dog and an injured cow.

Twenty people were pulled alive from the rubble Sunday, Iranmanesh said. A day earlier, officials reported freeing 150 survivors.

Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari said Sunday that the search for survivors would probably end Monday night.

Ted Pearn, coordinator of U.N. relief operations in Bam, said 1,400 international relief workers were in Bam, part of 35 teams from 26 countries.

"The major problem, of course, will be the people left here homeless," Hamid Nouroshi of UNICEF told Barron, adding that more drugs and clinics are urgently needed.

Planes from dozens of countries have landed in the provincial capital of Kerman with relief supplies, volunteers and dogs trained to find bodies and survivors. U.S. military C-130 cargo planes were among them, despite long-severed diplomatic relations and President Bush's characterization of Iran as being part of an "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea.

The traditional sun-dried, mud-brick construction of the houses doomed many occupants, as it has for centuries in quake-prone Iran. Heavy roofs, often sealed with cement or plaster to keep out rain, sit atop mud-brick walls that have no support beams. When walls crumble, roofs smash down, leaving few air pockets and crushing or suffocating anyone inside.

On Sunday, traffic clogged the roads leading in and out of Bam, 630 miles southeast of Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Survivors with any kind of motor vehicle loaded furniture and whatever they could salvage and headed for other cities. Incoming traffic brought relief supplies, volunteers and relatives desperate for news of their kin.

Mostafa Biderani and his wife, Zahra Nazari, wept in front of a destroyed police station in the center of Bam, slapping their faces and beating their chests in an Islamic expression of grief.

"I pulled my son out of the rubble this morning," said Biderani, who drove from Isfahan, 470 miles to the northwest. "But all my hopes were dashed when I saw the police station had collapsed. I pulled out my son with my bare hands."

By Saturday night, enough tents had arrived to accommodate the thousands of homeless. There was even a bit of normalcy, with people complaining they had to share a tent with another family.

Looters were also out, grabbing food from warehouses and grocery shops. Police tried to control them by shooting in the air.

Bam was best known for its medieval citadel, considered the world's largest surviving mud fortress. Most of the 2,000-year-old fortress, including a massive square tower, crumbled like a sand castle when the quake hit.