Jenin search proceeds with caution, hidden bombs in mind

JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (CNN) -- Coordinators of the search and rescue operation at Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank said Saturday they were adopting a "more cautious approach" -- still looking for survivors but going more slowly so as not to destroy evidence a U.N. fact-finding team will want to see.

The Palestinian refugee camp at Jenin was the scene of fierce fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinians. The Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out a "massacre." The Israelis deny the charges.

The United Nations Security Council voted Friday night to send a fact-finding team to the camp. Israelis and Palestinians welcomed the vote, with Israeli officials saying they would cooperate fully.

Guy Siri, the regional deputy director of the U.N. Agency for Relief and Work Agency, said aid agencies decided to adopt the more cautious approach because of the dangers involved in the recovery effort.

He said there were still unexploded bombs and Israeli shells lying around the camp. In addition, he said, the scene had become chaotic because families desperately looking for loved ones had brought their own bulldozers and other equipment into the camp.

He said Saturday that a nurse at the camp stepped on an explosive and was injured. And, he said, three members of a Palestinian family were hurt when they opened a door in their house and an explosion went off.

Siri, who is coordinating the efforts of relief agencies, said the search for survivors will go on but in a more orderly manner.

Siri described the task as delicate and said some evidence had already been lost.

So far, doctors at Jenin Hospital said, 43 bodies from the Jenin camp have been brought to Jenin Hospital for burial.

Another UNRWA official, Sami Mshasha said two more bodies were found in the camp around 7 p.m. (noon EDT) in the camp and were being removed from the rubble.

Siri said he believed more bodies will be recovered because of the strong stench in the air. However, he said residents said that animals had been killed or buried in the rubble, adding to the foul smell.

Siri said an elderly man clearing his belongings from a building was hurt Saturday when a building collapsed on him. He said the man was rescued by two Swiss rescue workers.

In addition, doctors at Jenin Hospital said a 17-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble after a building collapsed on him Saturday. They said rescue workers from the hospital were able to free him after six hours. The boy was in stable condition with broken bones.