Haiti: Up to 200,000 feared dead

Up to 200,000 people are feared dead as a result of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that has destroyed much of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, officials in the Caribbean country say. Lorries have been trying to collect the bodies that have been visible on the streets across Port-au-Prince for burial in mass graves outside the city. "We have already collected around 50,000 dead bodies," Paul Antoine Bien-Aime, Haiti's interior minister, told the Reuters news agency. "We anticipate there will be between 100,00 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number." If the casualty figures are accurate, Tuesday's quake would be one of the 10 deadliest on record. About 40,000 bodies have already been buried, while the bodies of another 2,000 victims have been incinerated at one of Port-au-Prince's rubbish dumps. Thousands more people are believed to be under the rubble of the buildings that were toppled in the quake. Alex Larsen, the country's health minister, said that the devastation was such that three-quarters of Port-au-Prince would have to be rebuilt.