3 survivors found under Nepal quake rubble as toll reaches 7,056

KATHMANDU: In a miraculous rescue, two men and a woman were today pulled out alive from under the rubble of their homes in Nepal, eight days after the devastating quake hit the country, killing 7,056 people including 38 Indians and the death toll is likely to go 'much higher'.

Rescuers, who have been sifting through mounds of rubble in the Himalayan nation for any more survivors, pulled out two men and a woman from near the mountainous Syauli village, official Surya Prasad Upadhaya said.

They have been taken to a nearby military hospital for treatment but other details were not immediately known.

The district - located about 60 kilometres west from here - is the worst hit by the 7.9-magnitude temblor with the highest number of casualties.

At least 7,056 people have been confirmed dead from the April 25 quake while the number of injured has reached 14,227, making the temblor the country's worst in over eight decades.

However, Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat said the death toll is expected to climb "much higher".

"The aftershocks have not receded, and we expect the final casualty numbers to climb much higher," Mahat said.

At least 38 Indians are among 54 foreigners killed in the quake that left a trail of devastation and suffering.

Police said 48 foreigners, including 10 Indians, were injured and 82 foreign nationals missing.

As many as 51 bodies, including of six foreigners, in the popular Langtang trekking region have been pulled out by police, a report said.

"We estimate that about 100 foreigners might still be missing in the area," the report quoted Uddav Prasad Bhattarai, chief officer of Rasuwa district, as saying.

A report released by the United Nation's humanitarian agency OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) said the number of houses destroyed in the country is over 1,60,000, nearly twice the number of households wrecked in the 1934's deadly temblor that has been the country's worst disaster of all times.

The UN urged Nepal to relax customs controls which it says are holding up deliveries of aid to the survivors.

Nepal had a duty to provide faster customs clearance for relief supplies, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said.

Amos, and the European Union's Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides called on Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and reaffirmed the commitment of the international community to support the country in this time of crisis.

"A disaster of such magnitude would test the capacities of any government in the world," said Stylianides.