Nepal quake death toll rises to 5,006 - home ministry

A local villager walks amid debris at a devastated area following Saturday's earthquake, in Gorkha, Nepal April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - The number of people killed in Nepal by the Himalayan country's worst earthquake in eight decades has risen to 5,006, a home ministry official said on Wednesday. That number represented a jump of 300 from earlier on Wednesday. Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told Reuters on Tuesday the toll from the 7.9 magnitude quake could reach 10,000. (Reporting by Gopal Sharma and Rupam Jain Nair; Writing by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Malini Menon)