CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Rescue workers toiled again Friday but hopes faded that more New Zealand earthquake survivors would be found. Officials said the death toll was at least 113.
About 200 people were reported missing after one of the country's deadliest earthquakes.
Two infants were among the latest victims identified following the 6.3 magnitude quake that laid waste to Christchurch, the country's second largest city after Auckland.
Rescuers worked under trying conditions but no survivors had been found since Wednesday, the day after the quake struck.
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Authorities said hopes began to fade of finding any more people alive in the vast pile of rubble that much of the central part of Christchurch has become.
Civil Defense Minister John Carter described the devastation as "unbelievable," the New Zealand Herald reported.
Only a small number of the dead had been identified as of Friday. The victims included two babies, 9 and 5 months old.
One of the infants died apparently after being crushed by a falling television set.
The missing included a number of foreigners and New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully warned his government may be forced to give their family members "the worst type of news," the BBC reported.
Teams from six other nations assisted in the search and rescue mission.
The Herald and the New Zealand Press Association news agency reported search teams began work to remove bodies from the heavily damaged Christchurch Cathedral, where safety remained a concern. About 22 people were believed to be trapped in the structure, officials said.
"The cathedral is, in a sense, the symbol, the icon of our city and there is no doubt there is going to be a strong desire to rebuild it," Dean Peter Beck said.
The missing included about 120 people believed to be in the badly burned Canterbury Television building, where rescue efforts were stopped for safety reasons.
A number of people were thought to be trapped in the multistory Pyne Gould Guinness officer towers, the BBC reported.
City Superintendent Dave Cliff warned that rain could make the rubble even more unstable, further complicating search operations, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported.
"Rescue staff are operating in highly dangerous and volatile situations, and we are continually reassessing the risks," he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported police had placed a curfew to prevent looting. The report said the interior floors of the 26-story Grand Chancellor Hotel, the city's tallest, which had been tilting, had collapsed but the building had not fallen.
J.P. Morgan has estimated the earthquake damage so far at $12 billion.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who declared a national state of emergency after arriving in the city of 400,000 people, said it was likely that more residential areas would become uninhabitable than those destroyed in a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in September. No one died in that quake.
