December 30, 2003	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 6, 1424

BAM (Iran), Dec 29: Iran’s supreme leader vowed on Monday to return the ruined city of Bam to its former glory, as rescuers held out little hope of finding more survivors in the rubble of an earthquake which killed up to 30,000 people.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in the Islamic Republic of 66 million people, flew to Bam, 1,000 km southeast of the capital, Tehran, and pledged to rebuild the ancient Silk Road city.

“We share your sorrow, those lost are our children. We will rebuild Bam stronger than before,” he said, addressing a crowd in one of Bam’s shattered squares.

President Mohammad Khatami also arrived in Bam to see the devastation which many have blamed on poor government planning and shoddy building standards.

“The scale of the catastrophe is so big that whatever has been done is not yet sufficient,” he told reporters. “I hope more and more aid will arrive in coming hours.”

Interior Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Hanjani said that by Monday morning 25,000 victims of the earthquake had been buried.

“Given the scale of the damage the number of casualties will rise in coming hours,” he told the official IRNA news agency.

PILES OF BODIES: Round-the-clock relief efforts were hindered by piles of bodies in the streets, overflowing cemeteries, bitter cold at night, rain, aftershocks and some looting.

“I believe the (death) toll will reach 30,000,” said a government official in Kerman province, where the quake struck before dawn on Friday, destroying about 70 percent of Bam’s mainly mud-brick buildings while people were asleep inside them.—Reuters