Myanmar quake toll passes 1,600 as people dig for survivors with bare hands

The number of people known to have died following the devastating earthquake in Myanmar has risen to more than 1,600, with people in some areas telling the BBC they had been left to dig through rubble for their loved ones with their bare hands.

An acute lack of equipment, patchy communication networks and wrecked roads and bridges were also hampering the search for survivors.

The quake has flattened much of Mandalay, the country's second-largest city. There was applause when rescuers pulled a woman alive from the wreckage of a 12-storey apartment block some 30 hours after it collapsed, but the Red Cross says more than 90 people may still be trapped there.