Leogane: A lost town at the Haiti earthquake epicentre

The town of Leogane is at the epicentre of Haiti’s disastrous earthquake – with up to 30,000 dead and almost all its buildings flattened.

A 40-strong British search and rescue team was the first to reach it yesterday – and the Mirror was with them.

Twelve miles west of capital Port-au-Prince, it used to have a population of 100,000 but now its centre is just a waste land with fallen twisted power cables threaded through rubble like spiders’ webs.

Two mass graves line the main road, a few yellowed bodies thrown in to start a third. Nearby, huddles of people beg for help. Armed men stand defiantly to defend a health clinic-turned-shelter against all comers.

This area had received no aid since last Tuesday’s cataclysm and the scene has been described as apocalyptic.

David Orr, of the UN World Food Programme, said: “It’s the very epicentre of the quake, and many, many thousands are dead. Nearly every house was destroyed. The military talk about 20,000 to 30,000 dead.”

People have fled to surrounding sugar cane fields or mangrove swamps to get away from the destruction. Tens of thousands are living in the open in church compounds, school playgrounds and market places.

Jean Ky Louis, a shop worker, said: “We have seen no rescues here, no help at all. People are dying of starvation, even the survivors. We have nothing, we need help. We welcome the British with open arms. We hoped they would come.”

The team used helicopters to assess damage before splitting into groups to search for survivors. They would work through the night and co-ordinator Sean Moore, from West Midlands Fire Service, said: “It’s our last chance to pull anyone out alive.”