1,700 still missing in Ecuador quake

The death toll from Ecuador’s earthquake was set to rise sharply after authorities warned that 1,700 people were still missing and anger gripped families of victims trapped in the rubble.

Three days after the powerful 7.8-magnitude quake struck Ecuador’s Pacific coast in a zone popular with tourists, 525 people are known to have died, the government said Tuesday.

Sniffer dogs and mechanical diggers were busy at work in the wreckage of coastal towns such as Pedernales and Manta as the stench of rotting bodies grew stronger under the baking sun.

International rescuers and aid groups rushed to help victims as searchers dug for families trapped in the debris of homes, hotels and businesses.

“We have 2,000 people listed that are being looked for, but we have so far found 300,” deputy interior minister Diego Fuentes told reporters in the capital Quito. Some 4,605 people were injured.

In a glimmer of good news as he toured the affected areas, President Rafael Correa said that 54 people had been rescued alive from the rubble.

Still, hope of finding more victims alive was fading fast as the crucial three-day mark was reached late Tuesday. Locals in devastated towns such as Manta started to lose patience.

“The rescue has been very slow and precious lives have been lost. We relatives have been waiting here since Saturday night,” said Mr Pedro Merro, who said his cousin was under the wreckage of a three-floor market in Manta.

Luis Felipe Navarro said he was sure there were people alive in the concrete and twisted metal of a building he owned — one of around 800 structures toppled in the quake.