Thumane: Albanian rescuers dug through rubble Tuesday as survivors trapped in toppled buildings cried out for help after the strongest earthquake in decades killed at least 18 people and left hundreds injured.

Tormented families looked on as soldiers, police and emergency workers sifted through debris of shredded apartment blocks in the towns near Albania's northwest Adriatic coast, close to the epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake. Eighteen people were found dead by the late afternoon, mostly in the city of Durres, a coastal tourism destination, and the town of Thumane north of the capital Tirana, according to the defence ministry.