A young volunteer excavates rubble from a collapsed building by hand after an earthquake in the Algerian city of Boumerdes May 23, 2003. Officials said the area worst-hit was Boumerdes, to the east of Algiers. That town alone accounted for some 835 of the dead and still had more than 1,200 missing. Hopes of finding survivors amid the devastation of Algeria's earthquake faded on Friday as the death toll topped 1,600 despite frantic efforts by teams of foreign rescue workers and [sniffer dogs.]