Tehran: Some 1,000 people were pulled out of the ruins of the quake-devastated Southeastern Iranian city of Bam yesterday and today (Dec 28, 2003), the State IRNA news agency reported.

In the first official indication of the progress of the rescue operation, the agency had earlier announced that 200 had been rescued yesterday (Dec 27, 2003).

Those rescued were located thanks to the "sniffer dogs and hi-tech ultrasound equipment of both Iranian and foreign emergency teams", the news agency said.

Rescue workers from 21 different countries are working alongside Iranians in an increasingly desperate bid to find the last survivors.

The United Nations in Geneva announced that the search would end later today, adding that international rescue teams were no longer needed.

On the ground, hopes were fading fast of finding many more people alive in the face of freezing night-time temperatures over the past 48 hours and the disorganisation of the relief effort in the face of the massive casualty toll.

Meanwhile, the state radio said today that a total of 13,000 people have so far been confirmed dead in the quake.

Of these, 2,000 died of their injuries in hospitals around the region, the radio said.

Earlier provincial Governor Mohammad Ali Karimi told the official IRNA news agency that as many as 10,000 people had been killed in the town of Bam alone.

"It's very difficult to quantify but the number of victims is very high," Karimi said.

Interior Ministry officials had advanced a preliminary death toll of 20,000 although they warned the final count could be much higher.