Morocco earthquake: death toll passes 2,600 as foreign aid teams fly in

Authorities accept help from some countries but other offers not yet taken up as search for survivors runs out of time

The death toll in the Moroccan earthquake has passed 2,600 people as a limited number of foreign aid and rescue teams have joined an intensifying race against time to find any remaining survivors high in Morocco's Atlas mountains where many villages remain inaccessible.

Moroccan authorities said they had responded favourably" to offers of help from visiting search and rescue teams from Spain, Qatar, Britain and the United Arab Emirates, but were yet to accept further offers of aid from other countries despite the urgent nature of the disaster - including from France and from Turkey, which experienced a deadly earthquake in February. Its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, said it would help with all means" if Rabat accepted the offerits offer was accepted.