The death toll following the strong earthquake that shook western Albania on Tuesday morning continues to rise. Dozens were killed. Many are still missing. Some four thousand Albanians and hundreds of foreign rescuers are sifting through the rubble.  

CGTN's Aljosa Milenkovic reports from the village of Thumane. 

Desperate rescue efforts in the village of Thumane. Two older buildings took the hardest hit here, leaving death and destruction. Many are still missing. 

Rescue workers are frantically trying to clear up the rubble of this partially collapsed multi-story building. They believe that six more people are still trapped beneath. Hopes for finding them alive are fading by the minute. 

Villagers are waiting for any news about their neighbors and loved ones. 

Those who survived this earthquake are sharing their stories about the horrors they went through at four o’clock on Tuesday morning. 

"First, I've pushed out my daughter with her son, then I've pushed my invalid wife, while I've remained inside. I was injured here and here. I managed to go out only after the earthquake stopped. A part of the wall collapsed, and then I've got out through the hole,” Nikoll Lleshi, a Thumane Villager said.  

Seventy-five-year-old Estref Gorcaj is playing with his grandson Almero. 

Happy to be alive, and that his entire family survived in the building which, according to him, killed 20 of his neighbors. 

"Air in the house was full of dust. My grandchildren were there. They were shouting from the other room 'open the door grandfather.'. I didn't know what to do. The doors couldn't open. None of the doors couldn't open,” Estref Gorcaj, a Thumane villager said.  

In the village center, authorities set up a tent camp. 

It's the only shelter for those left homeless, those injured and afraid of what will happen next. 

Help is arriving from all over the country and politicians are promising that their houses will be rebuilt. 

Lost lives, though, cannot be replaced.