The agency said Jalil Shahinaki, who slipped into a deep coma after being pulled from the rubble Wednesday by an Iranian search and rescue team, died overnight in a field hospital in the razed city.

A member of the team at the Ukrainian field hospital where the man was being treated, Dr. Mehdi Shadnoush, cited heart failure as well as respiratory and pulmonary problems as the cause of death.

Shahinaki had survived a 13-day ordeal under the rubble, apparently thanks to the fact that he was under a piece of furniture, which formed an air pocket allowing him to breathe.

Few survivors were unearthed from the debris, given that houses in the city were mostly built with mud-brick which disintegrated in the quake, leaving little room for air.

The ancient city of Bam was razed by an earthquake that measured over six degrees on the Richter scale on December 26. More than 30,000 were killed, the same number injured and tens of thousands left homeless.

Meanwhile, seismologists said the city was struck by another serious aftershock mesuring 3.8 on the Richter scale early Sunday.

The tremor was reported to have hit at 8:39 am (0509 GMT), Tehran University's Geophysics Institute was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.

With nearly all survivors living in tents, there were no immediate reports of any casualties.

TERRA.WIRE