Algeria death toll heads for 1,000

One official complained the country had no sniffer dogs

The death toll from violent storms which soaked Algeria over the weekend has risen to 650 people.

They gave us nothing, not even picks or shovels, so we dig with saucepans and stainless steel plates, or even with our hands

Search volunteer

The final toll is expected to rise above 1,000.

Rescue workers are attempting to extricate bodies from the mounds of mud - in some places up to 13 feet high - but the work has been hindered by a lack of adequate equipment.

"They gave us nothing, not even picks or shovels, so we dig with saucepans and stainless steel plates, or even with our hands," said one volunteer.

No sniffer dogs

A civil defence officer told Reuters news agency that Algeria had no sniffer dogs, which could be used to find the dead.

Interior Minister Nourredine Yazid said there was no hope of finding survivors.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have launched a $1.2m appeal for the victims of Algeria's worst floods in 40 years.

An estimated 24,000 people have been made homeless or destitute.

International aid has begun arriving from European and Arabic countries and the funds from the Red Cross appeal would help buy emergency shelters and first aid for the victims.

France has sent a cargo plane with tents, beds and blankets and water purification equipment to provide drinking water for up to 100,000 people a day, and the UN World Food Programme said it would send tents, water equipment and other aid donated by the Italian Government.

President heckled

The majority of the dead, according to Algerian officials, were from a densely populated area of the capital Algiers, Bab El Oued.

Bouteflika was heckled when he visited affected areas

When President Adbelaziz Bouteflika tried to visit the scene on Monday, he was met with hecklers shouting "government assassins" and his minders quickly moved him away.

The protests have continued over the last two days, with angry youths taking to the streets of Algiers, shouting anti-government slogans, according to the local press.

The government is accused of having contributed to the devastation by deliberately blocking the drains in some of the poorer areas.

They did this in the early 1990s when Islamist militants used the drainage system to make their escape after carrying out assassinations and bomb attacks.

Although the militants were largely forced out of the city some years ago, the drains have never been unblocked, although Mohamed Ouchene, Algiers City Council Secretary General, told national television drains in Bab el Oued were regularly maintained.

The Algerian Government has said it will offer housing and financial assistance to those hardest hit by the storm.