"She doesn't have a single scratch on her face," said Red Crescent spokeswoman Masoumeh Malek. "She can talk to us and answer our questions. When I ask her something she says 'yes dear."'

The woman, aged about 60, was found in good condition despite long odds of surviving so long after the quake. She was located first by sniffer dogs yesterday afternoon -- more than 8 1/2 days after the quake buried her under a building.

Rescue workers then spent three hours excavating her from the rubble.

"She is now being treated in a Red Crescent centre and is in good condition," Malek said.

There have been no survivors found in the devastated city since Thursday when three people were rescued despite long odds. Experts say it is extremely unlikely to survive even beyond three days without food or water in such conditions.

The tremor killed at least 30,000 people in Bam, an ancient Silk Road city that once had 103,000 inhabitants. Government officials have said the final toll may reach 50,000. Ninety percent of its buildings were also ruined.

In an attempt to restore a semblance of normality to the southeastern city, state media said at least three of Bam's 23 schools were reopened briefly yesterday -- the start of the week in Iran.

"We opened the school this morning but we decided to close again," Abbas Burunabadi, a consultant to the governor of Bam, told Reuters at a boys school in Rudab just outside the city that appeared undamaged. He said they would try again Monday.

"Less than 30 percent of the pupils attended classes today and I haven't seen many of the teachers," Burunabadi said, as several children played on the street in front of the one-story brick building. "Most lived in Bam and a number were killed."

One group of six boys between eight to 12 were kicking a stone around on the street in an impromptu football match while children in another slightly larger group played with sticks or leaned against the walls of the school beneath a yellow banner that said classes had been postponed until Monday.

"I went along this morning but it was cancelled," said Aboljassen Nezamabaei, 7, on his bicycle outside school.

Mohammad Taqizadeh, head of education in the Kerman province, told the official IRNA news agency classes would start Monday in tents if there are enough pupils.

"There were 27,000 pupils in Bam before the earthquake, but we have no figures on the number now," he added. "More than 90 percent of the schools were damaged."

Burunabadi, in Rudab, said there were also other worries.

"From a psychological point some pupils are afraid to go back inside a building," he added.