Morocco quake: Lincolnshire rescuers vow to stay as long as needed

The four Lincolnshire firefighters and rescue dog Colin have joined a 60-strong UK team

Lincolnshire firefighters supporting a UK rescue effort to find survivors of the earthquake in Morocco have said they will stay there as long as needed.

More than 2,900 people are known to have died in last Friday's tremor - the country's deadliest in 60 years.

The four firefighters and a rescue dog joined the UK International Search and Rescue Team (UKISAR) earlier this week.

Karl Keuneke, who is usually based at Lincoln South fire station, said the team were still finding survivors.

The team from Lincolnshire is made up of Mr Keuneke along with Darren Burchnall, Ben Clarke, Neil Woodmansey and rescue dog Colin.

More than 2,900 people are known to have died in last Friday's earthquake

They are among 60 firefighters from 14 UK fire services on UKISAR which has been treating injured people and searching for survivors trapped under collapsed buildings.

The epicentre of the tremor was in the High Atlas Mountains, 71km (44 miles) from Marrakesh, and many of the worst affected areas are remote villages and towns.

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Mr Keuneke said the team were based at the foot of the mountains and had to travel several hours to get to areas where people were trapped.

He said: "Rescue teams have been finding survivors so there's still that window of opportunity for people to be found."

The firefighter said they had witnessed the "total devastation" in some of the worst-hit areas.

"It's very surreal being here. Obviously we put in a lot of training before we were deployed and we're firefighters in the UK, but it's very different to what we are used to."

He added: "For as long as we can be helping the people out here, then we'll be here."