Briton killed in Iran earthquake

A British man died in the devastating earthquake which tore through Iran, the Foreign Office said today.

Gavin Sexton, from the Hampshire area, was caught in the disaster and initially pronounced missing.

But members of the UK embassy and UK fire and rescue service located his body amid the rubble, the spokeswoman said.

Earlier today, a British survivor spoke of the moment she feared she would die as the guest house in which she was staying collapsed.

Ruth Millington, 34, was staying with other backpackers in the ancient city of Bam when the earthquake struck on Boxing Day.

The lawyer from London, who survived with cuts and bruises, told how she helped dig people from the rubble with her hands. Up to 22,000 people are now known to have died in the quake, which measured at least 6.3 on the Richter scale.

Miss Millington, who was on holiday with a German friend, said: "There was this incredible noise and mortar and bricks just crashing everywhere. I just had to get out.

"I managed to get clear of the rubble but we were trapped in the room. My friend managed to kick the door down and we got out."

"We came out into the open. It was incredible. The only thing remaining other than our room was a wall at the front of the hotel."

Miss Millington and her friend had left the hotel without any possessions and were completely in the dark, as all power supplies had been cut. "I told him not to, but he went back in an managed to get one backpack and a pair of shoes," she said.

Then she started to dig in the rubble for other survivors. "I could see a woman in the rubble - just her head," she said. "She was wounded and covered in blood. We were just digging to try to get her out."

She went on: "As I was digging, I was praying that it would get light. At about 7am, it became clearer and I saw a bed frame covered in rubble and my immediate response was, there is someone under that.

"I went across and started pulling back the earth and found some hair and I put my hand on this person's head and then I pulled back and his face was down. I turned it to one side to make sure he could breath. All he could say was there is something heavy on my legs, get it off.

"After pulling out a number of people, I walked up the road and there was traffic everywhere. There were just no houses left. People were bringing out their dead children, wrapped in sheets, there were people wailing on the streets, screaming, crying, praying."

All hope of finding survivors has now faded and efforts are now concentrating on helping the survivors.

Tens of thousands of people have spent three nights in the open and there are fears the death toll could reach more than 30,000.