Hope Fades For Quake Survivors

Rescue workers from around the world joined Iranians on Sunday in searching for survivors from the earthquake that pulverized this ancient city and killed more than 20,000 people, entombing most in their shattered mud-brick homes.

Aid workers are rushing in to prevent the outbreak of epidemics in the face of an overwhelming disaster.

More than 20 international rescue teams continue to search for survivors. Bulldovers remove rubble and people continue to dig with their bare hands for any signs of life.

There's a very real feel now, even a certainty, that no one else will be found alive, reports CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras.

The spokesman for the Kerman regional governor's office said so far more than 20,000 bodies have been retrieved and buried following Friday's 6.6-magnitude quake — one-fourth of Bam's entire population.

Spokesman Asadollah Iranmanesh would not comment on whether the death toll, which includes one American tourist, would rise, but told The Associated Press that another 10,000 people had been hospitalized.

The foul smell of decaying bodies rose from the ruins and blew with the dust on warming winds.

At least 45 planes from other countries landed in Iran Saturday and Sunday, bringing foreign rescue teams, search dogs, medical teams and supplies. U.S. military C-130 cargo planes were among them, despite the long-severed diplomatic relations and President Bush's characterization of Iran as part of "the axis of evil."

Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari said the search for survivors would probably end Monday night. "Tomorrow (Monday) is the last hope," Lari told a group of Italian reporters.

Experts say that 72 hours is generally the longest that people can survive if they are trapped in rubble. Sunrise Monday is Bam's 72-hour mark.

Asked why Iran had accepted earthquake help from America but rejected an offer from Israel, Lari replied: "Israel is not a legitimate government; it is a force of occupation. How can they (the Israelis) have any sensibility when their tanks and bulldozers are destroying Palestinian homes?"

The Americans were a different matter, Lari said. "I believe it is possible that they have a humanitarian sensibility in such a dramatic situation. Besides, we consider the American government a legitimate government, even if we don't agree with U.S. foreign policy."

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

Survivors with any kind of motor transport loaded furniture and whatever else 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, about 470 miles northwest of Bam "in hope of finding my son alive."

"But all my hopes were dashed when I saw the police station had collapsed. I pulled out my son with my bare hands."

The couple's son, Hossain Biderani, was serving his compulsory military service with a police unit. At the mention of her son's name, Nazari fainted and fell to the ground. She was revived, only to faint a second time, then revived again and cried: "O my Hossain, I was thinking of getting you a bride, but you made us mourners instead and put us in black clothing."

The traditional sun-dried, mud-brick construction of the houses doomed many occupants, as it has for centuries in earthquake-prone Iran. Heavy roofs, often sealed with cement or plaster to keep out the rain, sit atop mud-brick walls that stand without benefit of wood or steel beams. When the walls crumble, the roofs smash down, leaving few air pockets and crushing or suffocating anyone caught inside.

Friday's quake struck shortly before sunrise when most people were still sleeping.

Barry Sessions, of Britain's Rapid-UK rescue group, said his team had not found anyone alive in 24 hours of searching. "In these conditions, we are not optimistic of finding anyone alive. Hopes are dwindling fast," he said.

"The earthquake reduced most of the buildings to something like talcum powder," Session said. "Many of the casualties suffocated and there are few voids or gaps left in the buildings where we would normally find survivors."

His thoughts were echoed by other relief workers.

Luca Spoletini, spokesman for the Italian Civil Protection that has landed three C-130 cargo planes of rescue workers and supplies, said Italian teams with search dogs had spent the whole day probing the rubble, "but unfortunately we always find people dead."

Describing a visit to Barazat, a town with a population of 20,000 a few miles outside Bam, Spoletini said: "There is nothing any more. Not one single house, not one single building stands upright. It is like the Apocalypse. I have never seen anything like that."

Occasionally there were some rays of hope.

Iranmanesh, the Kerman governor's spokesman, said one man was pulled alive from the rubble in Bam on Sunday, but he had no further details. On Saturday, Iranian officials reported freeing 150 survivors more than 24 hours after the quake.

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

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

Besides Italian and British teams, rescue searchers in Bam on Sunday came from Austria, Azerbaijan, Britain, Finland, Germany, Russia and Turkey. Thailand also said it would sent rescue workers.

America set up an airlift to fly in 150,000 pounds of food and medical supplies from the U.S. Air Force and Army. A spokesman for the U.S. forces in Kuwait, Lt. Col Vic Harris, said four U.S. military planes flew from Kuwait to Kerman, 120 miles northwest of Bam.

Master Sgt. Jeff Bohn of the U.S. Air Force was on the first C-130 transport plane to reach Kerman, landing Saturday night with 20,000 pounds of medical provisions, food and purified water.

"The reception was beyond expectations," Bohn told the AP. "The warmth that the Iranian military and civil aviation workers gave us was truly incredible."

An Iranian navy helicopter crashed 30 miles southwest of Bam on Sunday after delivering tents and blankets, according to Iranmanesh, the regional governor's spokesman. All three crewmen were killed, he said.

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

It had drawn thousands of tourists, including some who numbered among Friday's casualties. One American was reported killed and another American and two Swiss men were injured. None was identified immediately.