Earthquake death toll at 1,644 as more bodies are recovered from the rubble

Myanmar’s ruling military said Saturday on state television that the confirmed death toll from a devastating magnitude 7.7 earthquake rose to 1,644, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of scores of buildings that collapsed when it struck near the country’s second-largest city.

The new total is a sharp rise compared with the 1,002 total announced just hours earlier, underlining the difficulty of confirming casualties over a widespread region and the likelihood that the numbers would continue to grow from Friday’s quake. The number of injured rose to 3,408, and 139 were missing.

Rescue efforts are underway especially in the stricken major cities of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest, and Naypyidaw, the capital. But even though teams and equipment have been flown in from other nations, they are hindered by the airports in those cities being damaged and apparently unfit to land planes.