The search for those killed in Indonesia’s quake-tsunami disaster was called off Thursday, despite there being around 5,000 people still missing.
The magnitude 7.5-quake and a subsequent tsunami razed whole swathes of Palu to the ground on September 28.
More than 2,000 bodies have been recovered since the twin disaster on Sulawesi island.
But authorities fear 5,000 more could be buried beneath the ruined city, where entire villages were swallowed.
Rescuers had struggled to find remains in the twisted wreckage, a job made worse as mud hardened and bodies decomposed in the tropical heat.
“The search and rescue (SAR) operation for the victims will end this Thursday afternoon,” SAR field director in Palu, Bambang Suryo, told AFP.
The government earlier indicated these hard-hit areas would be left untouched as mass graves.