Ecuador earthquake death toll rises to 443,
The death toll from Saturday's Ecuadorian earthquake has risen to 443, with more than 4,000 injured and 231 missing. President Rafael Correa has said the earthquake was the country's worst tragedy for nearly 70 years. The quake, near the northern town of Muisne has devastated areas along Ecuador's Pacific coast, buckling highways, and flattening homes and buildings.
lsewhere, funerals for some of those killed were held in Portoviejo and Pedernales, two towns that were the worst hit.
"I fear that figure will go up because we keep on removing rubble," a shaken Mr Correa said in a televised address. "There are signs of life in the rubble, and that is being prioritised."
The quake comes at a time when the oil-producing country is already reeling from the slump in global crude prices.
Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, said some of the group's rarely used emergency funds would be unlocked and given to Ecuador to help it rebuild.
On the scene - Katy Watson, BBC News, El Carmen
An hour inland from Pedernales, we come across a digger working its way through a mound of rubble. This, we are told, was Joselo's house - or what's left of it. A three-storey building turned to rubble.
According to the neighbours, most had got out as soon as the earthquake struck. Joselo was trying to get his car out of the garage when the roof collapsed on top of him. A bloodied pillow and his T-shirt lie tossed in a corner of what now looks like a building site.
Dozens of former residents climb on to the rubble and sift through broken stones to recover whatever belongings remain intact.
"I had to make an unexpected trip out of town," says Emilio Solorzano. "Just as well, otherwise I would have been crushed, I'm standing on my bedroom."
Western Ecuador was hit by a number of strong aftershocks on Monday, the largest of which measured magnitude 5.1.
In Pedernales, close to the epicentre, as many as 400 people are feared dead. Mayor Gabriel Alcivar said the "entire town" had been flattened.
"Pedernales is devastated," he told local media. "Buildings have fallen down, especially hotels where there are lots of tourists staying. There are lots of dead bodies.
"We're trying to do the most we can but there's almost nothing we can do," he added, warning that looting had broken out.
AP
Ecuador earthquake death toll rises to 443,
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