The number of people killed in Indonesia from last week's earthquake and tsunami has risen to more than 1200, the country's disaster response agency says.
Indonesian soldiers bury quake victims in a mass grave in Poboya after an earthquake and tsunami hit the area on 28 September. Photo: AFP
The death toll jumped on Tuesday from a previous confirmed figure of 844.
The 7.5 magnitude quake struck just off the central island of Sulawesi, setting off a tsunami that hit the coastal city of Palu.
People there are growing increasingly desperate for food, fuel and water.
There are fears some survivors may still be trapped under the rubble of buildings.
Indonesian Red Cross officials have told the BBC that 34 Indonesian students whose bodies were found under a church buried by a mudslide were among those killed.
They were among a group of 86 students reported missing from a Bible camp in the Jonooge Church Training Centre. The whereabouts of the other 52 students are not known.
"The mud conditions in that area are terrible, we have to walk about 1.5 hours to reach [the mudslide area], that makes it very difficult," Ridwan Sobri, a spokesperson for the Indonesian Red Cross told the BBC.
Mr Sobri said the identities and ages of the students could not yet be confirmed.
This aerial picture shows the remains of a ten-storey hotel in Palu in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi. Photo: AFP
'Unimaginable trauma'
Rescuers are also still hunting for survivors in the ruins of a four-storey hotel in the town.
An estimated 50 people were inside the Hotel Roa Roa when it collapsed. About 12 people have been recovered - only three came out alive.
"We have to be very careful so we don't risk hurting any survivors when we move the debris," the head of the rescue team, Agus Haryono, told Reuters.
Across Palu, blocked roads, a damaged airport and broken telecommunications have made it difficult to bring help into the affected area, and impossible to contact more remote regions.
With hospitals damaged, injured people have been treated in the open and at least one military field hospital has been set up.
The military has taken over the airport to fly aid in, and injured people and other evacuees out.
But for thousands of people wanting to get the first commercial flight out of Palu, the wait continues.
"I'd get a plane anywhere. I've been waiting for two days. Haven't eaten, barely had a drink," 44-year-old food vendor Wiwid told Reuters news agency.
The charity Save the Children says many of the children in Palu "will have experienced unimaginable trauma and distress".
"Losing their mother or father, and watching everything they have known washed away," said the charity's Tom Howells.
Many people are having to sleep in makeshift shelters or on the street, with little access to food, medication or emotional support, Mr Howells said.
Across the city, mass graves are being dug.
Photo: AFP
'In the thousands'
The 7.5-magnitude quake occurred at a depth of 10km just off the central island of Sulawesi at 10:03 GMT on Friday, setting off a tsunami.
The earthquake was powerful but shallow and with more lateral than vertical movement, not typically the kind of tremor that sets off tsunamis.
Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has said the final death toll could be in the thousands while the Red Cross estimates that more than 1.6 million people have been affected.
-BBC
