At least 589 people are dead and more than 2,980 injured after a major earthquake struck, with rescue workers still pulling through debris in search of survivors, the Wail confirmed Tuesday.
Emergency teams are racing against time at collapse sites where an unknown number of people remain trapped under rubble. Officials have not issued a final missing-persons count.
The casualty figures, reported by the BBC, are expected to climb as crews reach areas cut off in the immediate aftermath of the quake.
The scale of structural collapse across affected communities suggests the injured count could also grow substantially as field hospitals process casualties from outlying zones.
No single government body had issued a consolidated national toll as of Tuesday afternoon. Local emergency agencies were coordinating search-and-rescue operations across multiple affected districts.
Authorities are expected to issue updated casualty figures as rescue operations advance Wednesday.