RESCUE crews returning from earthquake-ravaged Algeria today appealed for a change in quarantine rules after their life-saving search dogs were impounded for six months.

The move came as the volunteers said it would be "beyond a miracle" to find anyone alive in the wake of the devastation.

Ninety firefighters, including five from East Lancashire, returned home yesterday after five gruelling days searching for survivors.

And the UK Fire Service Search and Rescue Team now faces an anxious wait for seven rescue dogs to be released from six month quarantine.

A powerful earthquake ripped through towns east of Algiers on Wednesday night. The death toll stands at 2,217, with another 8,980 injured.

Seven specially trained dogs were also sent to the trouble zone to help with the rescue mission, but they have been quarantined at Manchester.

It means the specialist team are "greatly depleted" if they need to face any other threats in the coming months.

And as the dogs are called on more often, professionals are calling for the laws to be changed once and for all.

Dog handler Nigel Boden, 39, who lives in Burnley said it was an emotional wrench to leave the dogs behind. "It is like losing half of a two person team," said Nigel.

He added: "The dogs were not responsible for finding any survivors directly but they were able to search areas and confirm that there were no people trapped which allowed for a much quicker elimination of areas."

He added: "If there were three disasters in one year, we would have no rescue dogs left at all due to the restrictions and our best dogs are out of training for months."

The team is now hoping to organise an appeal with the Home Office to have the dogs released early.

Andrew Barnes, 45, Station Officer at Blackburn has worked on rescue missions in Turkey, Armenia and India.

He said: "Our aim was to search for people who might have been trapped under the rubble. For a country like Algeria it is a very difficult time as there are existing problems. Tens of thousands of people have been murdered as a result of terrorists over the last ten years and it is a deeply Islamic state.

"As Westerners arriving we were part of that target and security was an issue from the moment we landed.

"But to cope with the earthquake on top - things moved very slowly indeed. To find any survivors now would be beyond a miracle.

"What they need now is help rebuilding and finding shelter for everyone who has lost their homes."

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs said they would remain "absolutely firm" on the policy of six months quarantine.

"The dogs are free to go back out on missions abroad if the welcoming country will admit them but there is no way they will be released before six months has passed in the UK.

"We maintain a strict quarantine policy in this country and have managed to stamp out rabies, unlike our European neighbours."