Jeremy Page (left), The Times Moscow Correspondent, reports on the atmosphere outside the school siege in Beslan, North Ossetia, where 354 children and adults are being held hostage by Chechen extremists

"Everybody's nerves are shredded here from the lack of news and from the sound of explosions and sporadic bursts of gunfire which have been ringing out since the early hours from Middle School No 1.

"Relatives are very worried that this means that security forces might be about to start an operation to storm the school, or, worse still, that one of the suicide-bombers inside has decided to blow themselves up.

"It was a misty morning in the town of Beslan, which could have provided good cover for such an operation.

"But we are being told that it is the rebels who are shooting and launching rocket-propelled grenades to discourage Russian forces from storming the building. They are obviously very tense inside the school and determined to keep the soldiers pinned down.

"The sound of the explosions is very nerve-wracking for all the relatives. Every time you hear a bang, someone collapses in tears. The siege has been going on for 30 hours now and they just can't take the stress anymore.

"The numbers of people have waxed and waned through the day but they are at a peak now, with a good 500 to 1,000 people. The crowd is composed not just of parents and relatives, but friends and bystanders.

"The mood, which at first was shocked and tearful, is turning to anger, mainly aimed against the authorities who have given out no information about what is going on inside the school.

"Earlier, when the North Ossetian officials came out to give their first briefing of the day to the waiting journalists, the officials were immediately surrounded by crowds of angry relatives who shouted them down, demanding that they answer their questions. When the officials tried to calm people down several altercations broke out.

"The relatives also say that they don't believe the official estimate of 354 hostages, they think there are many more - probably 600 and maybe as many as 1,000, because it was the first day of term and so many parents and relatives had accompanied their children into school, as is traditional.

"There have been sporadic reports throughout the day that Leonid Roshal, the paediatrician whom the rebels asked for as a siege negotiator, has made contact again with the captors, but news remains very thin on the ground."

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