HOUTKAN, Iran, 25 February 2005 — Around 550 people have died in the Iran earthquake, officials said yesterday, but the toll could be higher as rescuers continued to dig frantically through the rubble of flattened mountain villages.

Earlier, the governor of the stricken Kerman province said 490 people had been killed and 900 injured when the 6.4 magnitude quake struck Tuesday, turning whole villages to rubble in mountainous regions.

“These figures are not final and are expected to increase further,” Governor Mohammad Ali Karimi told state radio. His spokesman Ali Komsari later said a total of 550 people have died in the quake.

But he added that the authorities now expected the death toll to rise less sharply than originally feared as the number of dead in the most stricken villages had turned out to be lower than anticipated.

He said the search for victims was still going on in the mountain village of Houtkan, which was completely demolished in the temblor, the worst in Iran since the Bam earthquake of December 2003 that killed more than 30,000 people.

The director of the main teaching hospital in the provincial capital of Kerman, Iraj Sharifi, said Wednesday that the death toll stood at 520 while in the district capital of Zarand, local official Javad Rachidi spoke of 500 dead and 990 injured.

Some 8,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed in Zarand district around the epicenter of the quake, which left thousands homeless as temperatures dropped below freezing and rain and snow fell, hampering rescue efforts.

Hundreds of rescue workers and soldiers were searching through the rubble of mud-brick buildings with their hands as blocked roads made it impossible for heavy earthmoving equipment to reach some villages.

But in Houtkan, two young women were pulled out alive on Wednesday.

President Mohammad Khatami, whose government is facing protests from stricken villagers at the delay in aid reaching some of the most devastated areas, said Wednesday Iran would accept international help if offered.

“We are not calling for aid (from abroad) but we will accept it as we did before (after the Bam disaster),” he said.

Karimi said he was satisfied with the distribution of emergency aid despite residents holding a number of protests to highlight their lack of tents, blankets and food.

“Up to now about 9,400 tents, 60,000 blankets and a large quantity of basic supplies have been distributed,” the provincial governor said. “The distribution will be quicker once the weather improves.”

He said power, water and telephone links had already been restored to 59 of the affected villages.