A rescue team work to release a man from the debris of the National Bank in Muzaffarabad 

Soldiers assisted by French search and rescue experts were reported to have saved 40 children from the rubble of a school in Balakot and found 60 bodies.

But three days after the earthquake vast tracts of the region were still without help and hope was fading rapidly for most of those trapped under the wreckage of flimsy buildings.

The initial estimate of 20,000 dead was expected to rise dramatically. A Pakistani official predicted that in the mountains of the north-east the figure would mount to 30,000 or 40,000.

"It is a whole generation that has been lost in the worst affected areas," Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan, an army spokesman, said.

One lucky child is evacuated with his father to safety 
Sikander Hayat Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, said: "Kashmir is a graveyard. We have been either digging to recover bodies or digging to bury them. It is the biggest natural disaster. It has totally paralyzed Kashmir."

Hundreds of people flew from Britain to start their own searches for relatives. Mobile phones have provided a vital link for some but using landlines has been impossible.

International aid and rescue equipment began to flow towards the stricken areas but for most people it was too late. America sent five heavy-lift Chinook helicopters from Afghanistan, although none was visible yesterday.

An eight-man British team rescued a 20-year-old tailor who had been trapped for 54 hours in Muzaffarabad, the regional capital. 

The rescuers, who had been working around the clock since the 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday, cheered their success.

But successes were few. Damien Personnaz, a spokesman for Unicef, the UN children's fund, said in Geneva: "It is a logistical nightmare to try to rescue the survivors. Most of the children who died were at school.

"Outside the main cities the schools were built mostly from stone with poor cement. They would have crumbled to nothing. The children would not have stood a chance."

The UN has raised its estimate of the number of people made homeless from 2.5 million to four million.

Police fired into the air to disperse looters pillaging a government store in Muzaffarabad. Shopkeepers with sticks defended their supplies of flour and cooking oil.

Many residents had not eaten for three days and were desperate. Fighting broke out when a military lorry tried to distribute food and people ransacked other lorries as they arrived, making off with food, tents, blankets and medicines.

One group broke into a petrol station to steal fuel for cooking and warmth.

"We have almost nothing left," said Abdul Majeed Bhut, 65, a shopkeeper. "People are buying sweets for food now."

Residents said the price of bread had risen by 500 per cent and drinking water was almost impossible to find. Refugees could be seen leaving the city as others arrived from outlying districts.