Newspapers reported five cases of near miraculous escapes, including a baby and young girl pulled out of the rubble, five days after the disaster struck.

Around 26,500 bodies have been buried so far, the spokesman for the Kerman provincial government, Assadollah Iranmanesh, told AFP, lowering earlier estimates. "This figure is not expected to change much."

The interior ministry did not confirm the figure and cautioned that several evacuated survivors could have died of their injuries in hospitals in other provinces.

During a tour of the area on Tuesday, President Mohammad Khatami estimated a final death toll of 40,000, more than the 37,000 killed in June 1990 quake in northwestern Iran.

Elsewhere in earthquake-prone Iran, a tremor measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale rocked the town of Pahleh in the southwest, the state news agency IRNA reported.

A strong wind only made matters worse in Bam for survivors who have been sleeping six or seven in white tents hastily erected amid the rubble of the town and its flattened citadel, once world's largest mud-built fortress.

With most houses reduced to piles of bricks, people huddled around camp fires under grey skies as the wind whipped up clouds of dust.

Women cooked over open fires or washed a few pans, while the men continued to pick over the rubble of their destroyed homes, looking for something to salvage.

Traffic on the roads was busy as mechanical diggers and bulldozers were moved around Bam, and those who had families to go to somewhere else loaded what belongings they still had into vans and lorries.

On Imam Khomeini Boulevard, men in open pick-up trucks handed out blankets to local inhabitants, while policemen wearing surgical masks as protection against the dust directed traffic.

In many districts, the only things still standing after the December 26 quake were the palm and eucalyptus trees, incongruously sprouting amid the piles of bricks and twisted metal.

Hundreds of Muslim preachers, meanwhile, were mobilised in Bam for rushed mass burials. Mourners wore masks as protection against both the dust and the stench of decomposing bodies.

Bodies were being ferried into a new makeshift cemetery on the edge of town on trucks and swiftly unloaded for a brief prayer ceremony. Huge floodlights have been erected so that the interments can continue through the night.

In the provincial capital of Kerman, less than 200 kilometres (120 miles) from Bam, where the ferocious quake with a magnitude of 6.3 struck on Friday, snow on the ground and fog delayed aid flights.

Despite dimming hopes, five survivors were rescued from the ruins on Tuesday, four of them in the nearby village of Baravat, Iranian newspapers said. Among them was a four-month-old infant and a 12-year-old girl.

The girl was trapped in the kitchen when the killer quake struck and was able to find enough food to survive for almost five days, according to the reports, which gave no further details.

Iran's health ministry, quoted by IRNA, said the disaster left 14,360 injured, of whom 8,500 have been hospitalised in the city of Kerman, in Tehran and other provinces.

It said 2,000 showers and 15,000 toilets are needed to help prevent the outbreak of epidemics. Water supplies in Bam are good but facilities for storage are lacking, experts said.

The World Health Organisation Wednesday expressed grave concern about the conditions facing survivors and launched an appeal for 3.5 million dollars (2.8 million euros).

The UN agency said the money would help the Iranian authorities replenish stocks, repair damaged health equipment and provide supplies for first aid services in Bam.

Sixty US medical specialists, including seven surgeons, were to set up a field hospital in the centre of the city, where only a few buildings have been left standing.

The medical team, along with some 20 specialists from USAID, a government body, are the first official US representatives to set foot in Iran since diplomatic links were broken more than 20 years ago.

With the world mobilized, about 130 planes from 40 countries have flown in emergency aid and equipment, while 1,700 foreign rescue workers have also rushed in.

Iranian officials gave out small bouquets of roses for New Year's Eve to members of international rescue teams.

burs/kir/txw

TERRA.WIRE