Moroccans are mourning the victims of a devastating earthquake that has killed more than 2,000 people as rescue teams raced to find survivors trapped in the rubble of flattened villages.

At least 2,059 people have been injured in the strongest-ever quake to hit the country, many of them critically.

Friday’s magnitude 6.8 quake struck 72km (45 miles) southwest of Marrakesh, wiping out several villages in rural areas. Troops and emergency services have scrambled to reach remote mountain villages where victims are still feared trapped.

Al-Haouz province, where the epicentre of the earthquake was located, recorded the most deaths with 1,293, followed by 452 in Taroudant province.

Neighbouring Algeria, which has had rocky relations with Morocco, opened its airspace, which had been closed for two years, to flights carrying humanitarian aid and the injured.