Smell of death steals hope of parents

"I had four children who are trapped in here," cried 60-year-old Mohammad Yusuf, pointing to the wreckage of a school that collapsed with hundreds of students inside.

"What shall I do?" he wailed.

Time is quickly running out for whatever survivors are still alive after Saturday's quake. In Balakot, two schools and an Islamic madrasa or seminary were toppled, with nearly 1,000 students thought to be buried.

The unmistakble odour of dead bodies has engulfed the scene, and residents said that for a while there were cries coming from the rubble -- but that those signs of life, by Sunday evening, had gone silent.

The Edhi foundation, Pakistan's largest charity, said it had recovered 70 bodies so far from three schools in the town and were able to rescue just six students, all of them on Saturday night.

Some 250 religious students were trapped in the collapsed Ahmed Shaheed madrasa, and as many as 400 were in what was left of the Shaheen Boys and Girls School.

The foundation was providing the only relief to the area, transporting injured people to makeshift clinics.

Residents said one military helicopter flew overhead on Sunday, dropped some tents and then flew off.

"We have not yet seen any rescue team," said doctor Farid Ahmed, whose four children are trapped inside the demolished Shaheen school.

The lack of help from the authorities prompted an exodus from the town. An AFP correspondent saw at least five people carrying bodies wrapped in white shrouds.

On the outskirts of Balakot, a group of six people helped Buhadar Shah carry the bodies of his brother Pervez and his brother's wife. Shah had came from Abbotabad city some 50km away to search for his family.