Stench of death in Iranian quake zone

President Bush's administration cast aside its branding of Iran as an "axis of evil" state to begin sending in military plane loads of aid and held rare talks with a government it has shunned diplomatically for two decades.

From China to South Africa, Britain to Australia, nations rushed to respond to Iran's appeals and sent rescue workers, doctors, tents and cash to help deal with what appeared to be the world's most lethal earthquake in at least 10 years.

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Cemeteries in Bam were overflowing with fully clothed corpses and hundreds of bodies had been tipped into trenches hollowed out by mechanical diggers, witnesses said.

The predawn quake on Friday also injured about 30,000 people when it flattened about 70 percent of the mostly mud-brick buildings in the ancient Silk Road city.

Bam airport was converted into a sprawling, makeshift hospital and rubble-strewn pavements were lined with injured, some on intravenous drips.

Reuters witnesses saw some looting when vans of young men armed with pistols and Kalashnikovs drove into Bam and stole Red Crescent tents, as residents said relief efforts were chaotic.

"There is no organisation. Whoever is stronger takes the aid," said Mehdi Dehghani.

President Mohammad Khatami said Iran could not cope on its own, as authorities battled to accommodate thousands of homeless people on a second bitterly cold night.

"Everyone is doing their best to help, but the disaster is so huge that I believe no matter how much is done we cannot meet the people's expectations," Khatami said on state television.

The Interior Ministry confirmed on Saturday the death toll stood at 20,000, but the chaos and scale of the disaster made it difficult for officials to produce exact casualty figures.

Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari said he could not make any forecasts about the final toll.