Monday, October 10 2005 14:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Between 30,000 and 40,000 people died in a massive earthquake that hit Pakistan at the weekend, UNICEF and a senior Government official said today (Oct 10, 2005).

"We have been told by the government that 30,000 to 40,000 died," in the quake on Saturday, UNICEF spokeswoman Julia Spry Leverton told sources in the capital Islamabad.

Leverton said children were especially vulnerable and accounted for around 50 per cent of the population in the affected areas in northern Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

"Between 30 to 40,000 people have died in Pakistan. 60,000 plus are injured," a senior Government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It's a very bad situation. We are getting reports of casualties from all the affected areas, even now at this very moment," the official added.