TEHRAN, Sep. 11 (MNA) – Survivors of Morocco's deadliest earthquake struggled to find food, water and shelter on Sunday as the search for the missing continued in remote villages, and the death toll of more than 2,100 seemed to rise further.

Many people were spending a third night in the open after the 6.8 magnitude quake hit late on Friday. Relief workers face the challenge of reaching the worst-affected villages in the High Atlas, a rugged mountain range where settlements are often remote and where many houses crumbled.

The death toll climbed to 2,122 with 2,421 people injured, state TV reported. Morocco said it may accept relief offers from other countries and will work to coordinate them if needed, according to state TV.

In Moulay Brahim, a village 40 km (25 miles) south of Marrakech, residents described how they dug the dead from the rubble using their bare hands. On a hillside overlooking the village, residents buried a 45-year-old woman who had died along with her 18-year-old son, a woman sobbing loudly as the body was lowered into the grave.

As he retrieved possessions from his damaged home, Hussein Adnaie said he believed people were still buried in the rubble nearby.

"They didn't get the rescue they needed so they died. I rescued my children and I'm trying to get covers for them and anything to wear from the house," Adnaie said.

Yassin Noumghar, 36, complained of shortages of water, food and power, saying he had received little government aid so far.

"We lost everything, we lost the entire house," Noumghar said. "We want just for our government to help us."

Later, sacks of food were unloaded from a truck which local official Mouhamad al-Hayyan said had been organised by the government and civil society organisations.

Twenty-five bodies had been brought to the village's small clinic, according to staff.

RHM/PR