Red Cross estimates 50,000 dead in Haiti quake

A couple looks over hundreds of earthquake victims at the morgue in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. Photo: AP

The Red Cross federation says it estimates there have been 45,000-50,000 deaths in the Haitian earthquake.

Spokesman Jean-Luc Martinage says the Haitian Red Cross came up with the estimate based on information from a wide network of volunteers across the quake-stricken capital of Port-au-Prince.

Martinage says it also is a number that government ministers have been using.

He said Thursday that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cross Societies has yet to determine the actual number of deaths.