Kathmandu, April 25: A pile of rubble and bodies that was once Kathmandu's revered Dharahara Tower most poignantly captured the horror of the temblor that ravaged through Nepal today.

A jagged stump just over 30 feet high was all that was left of the 183-year-old, 203-foot watchtower, one of the city's biggest tourist attractions and a Unesco-recognised historical monument.

At least 200 bodies have been retrieved from the crumbled wreck of what was a nine-storey building in the heart of Kathmandu, police said, adding that several people might still be trapped.

Witnesses said more than 200 people had bought tickets to climb up to a viewing deck on the eighth storey that had been open to visitors for the last 10 years and offered a panoramic view of the city.

Scores would have been on the balcony when the earthquake struck.

Rescue workers were seen retrieving bodies from the debris and people on the spot desperately tried to dig through piles of bricks and dust with their bare hands.

The lighthouse-like tower - white, topped with a bronze minaret and featuring a spiral staircase of 213 steps - was built in 1832 by then Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa on the orders of the Nepal queen. Dharahara is also known as Bhimsen Stambha or Bhimsen Tower.

It was designed in Mughal and European style, with a small statue of Lord Shiva adorning its top.

But the tower, along with another built by Bhimsen, seems to have had an earthquake jinx, a Wikipedia entry suggested.

Bhimsen had built the first tower eight years earlier in 1824, the online encyclopaedia said, adding that it was 11 stories high - two stories taller than the Dharahara.

Both survived the earthquake of 1834 but the first apparently suffered severe damage.

A hundred years later, on January 15, 1934, another earthquake flattened the first tower and left the Dharahara with just two stories standing, according to Wikipedia.

Then Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher restored and renovated the damaged Dharahara tower.

The Dharahara was built as a military watchtower. If any incident of national importance occurred, bugles were blown from its top floor summoning soldiers to assemble urgently, Wikipedia added. The tradition of bugle-blowing has continued.