Morocco has declared three days of national mourning after an Earthquake killed at least 2,000 people – with Britons among those missing amid fears the death toll could climb even higher. 

Rescuers trawled through rubble in Marrakesh in the search for survivors after Morocco’s biggest earthquake in over 120 years struck last night.

At least 2,012 people died in the horror quake, Morocco’s Interior Ministry said this evening, with 2,059 people people injured – including 1,404 in critical condition. 

The earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, struck Morocco’s Atlas Mountains and caused tremors as far away as Portugal, has wiped out entire families as witnesses describe hearing ‘unbearable screaming and crying’ and seeing distraught relatives frantically search with their bare hands for buried loved ones.

One man said dishes and wall hangings began raining down, and people were knocked off their feet. The quake brought down walls made from stone and masonry, covering whole communities with rubble.

Relatives were desperately trying to contact three Britons who were staying in Imlil, a remote village in the mountains near the epicentre. Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, the family of Rebecca Calvert, 65, from Windsor, pleaded with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly for help.

Ms Calvert was staying with her friend Hilary McKegney at the Hotel Le Village du Toubkal. Her daughter Katie told Mr Cleverly: ‘We are sick with worry and need your help in finding her and bringing her home safely. Please urgently send British resources to the specific region and urgently provide an update on their whereabouts.’

Another British woman appealed for information on X, writing: ‘My sister and her family are there and I have no news at all about Imlil nor from them.’ Alice Morrison, a British author who lives in Imlil, described the moment the quake struck, writing on her blog: ‘I can hear shouts and screams. One is my own. I am alone in the dark on the moving ground.’

Helen Morris, 37, from Neath, South Wales, and her friend Amy Pritchard, 37, were at the Riu Tikida Garden hotel in Marrakech when paintings fell off the walls. ‘We dived underneath the desk until everything stopped moving… for 30 to 40 seconds,’ Ms Morris said.

Shannon Nolan, 31, from Bristol, who was staying at the Aqua Mirage Marrakech with her sister, their mother and their six children, said: ‘The bed was shaking, the wardrobe was rocking, the TV came off the wall and the mirror in the bathroom smashed. When I stood up to walk it was like I was at sea.’

Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, said he expected the death toll to rise.

Moroccans and foreign tourists alike are queuing outside blood donation points to give blood in an effort to assist emergency workers. 

In historic Marrakech, people could be seen on state TV clustering in the streets , afraid to go back inside buildings that might still be unstable. The city’s famous Koutoubia Mosque, built in the 12th century, was damaged, but the extent was not immediately clear. Its 226-foot) minaret is known as the ‘roof of Marrakech.’ Moroccans also posted videos showing damage to parts of the Famous Red Walls that surround the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Most damage occurred outside of cities and towns, and the United States Geological Survey warned that the death toll was likely to rise significantly, because rural buildings were not built to sustain such earthquakes. 

Those in the city posted videos showing buildings reduced to rubble and dust, and parts of the famous red walls that surround the old city in Marrakesh damaged. 

In the village of Amizmiz, some 40 miles south of Marrakech, rescue workers picked through the rubble.

‘When I felt the earth shaking beneath my feet and the house leaning, I rushed to get my kids out. But my neighbours couldn’t,’ said Mohamed Azaw. ‘Unfortunately no one was found alive in that family. The father and son were found dead and they are still looking for the mother and the daughter.’