The man, identified only as Jalil, was in a coma at a Ukrainian field hospital, an Iranian doctor said.

"We are not sure he will be saved. One whole part of his body is cold," the doctor said. An AFP correspondent saw Jalil breathing with the aid of a respirator.

An Iranian search and rescue team found him alive Wednesday night. He apparently survived due to the fact he was under a piece of furniture, which formed an air pocket allowing him to breathe.

Iranian state media has reported a number of "miracle" survivors after rescuers had all but abandoned hope of finding more people alive, including a 97-year-old woman.

One of the World Health Organisation's top officials sent to Bam to help coordinate relief efforts said he doubted other people would be pulled alive from the rubble.

"It is very unlikely that in the cold of the night -- which is sometimes minus five (Celsius, 23 Fahrenheit) -- and the heat of the day -- which goes up to 15, 16 degrees --- that there will be many more survivors," David Heymann, an infectious disease expert, told a news conference in Geneva, where the WHO is based.

The discovery of any survivors in this particular earthquake had been rare due to the design of most houses in the city, which had a heavy roof that collapsed when the tremor started, said Heymann.

"People either got out on their own or were immediately removed by their family members," said the doctor, speaking just hours after he stepped off a plane from Iran where he had been since December 27.

In addition to the fact that most people would have been asleep at the time, officials in Iran also attributed the high number of deaths to the mud-brick construction of so many buildings.

The bricks tended to disintegrate, allowing less chance of air pockets forming.

The massive earthquake before dawn on December 26 virtually levelled the southeastern town of Bam, killing some 30,000 people, injuring about 30,000 more and leaving an estimated 75,000 people homeless.

TERRA.WIRE