Sichuan earthquake death toll exceeds 21,500, 14,000 others remain buried

Sichuan earthquake death toll exceeds 21,500, 14,000 others remain buried

Rescuers clean out the debris pressing on a trapped middle school student Yang Hong in quake-striken Beichuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 15, 2008.

Song Xinyi, a 3-year-old earthquake survivor, is saved in earthquake-hit Beichuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 14, 2008. Song was saved after being buried in the ruins for more than 40 hours.

The death toll from the earthquake in Sichuan Province alone has exceeded 21,500 while 14,000 others remained buried as of 4 p.m. Friday, the Sichuan provincial government said.

Sichuan Vice Governor Li Chengyun said at a press conference that 159,000 people were injured in Monday's massive earthquake and 4.8 million people had been relocated.

Friday's death toll rose by about 2,000 from that of Thursday.

Sichuan had experienced 4,432 aftershocks in the past four days, Li said.

More than 140,000 rescuers, including 84,000 regular army personnel, 42,000 reserves, and many firefighters and police officers had been dispatched to the quake-hit areas in the province.

In addition, more than 32,000 medical staff were working in the worst-hit areas.

Thanks to their efforts, 2,617 people had been rescued from ruined buildings, and 2,216 injured people, including 1,218 seriously hurt, had received medical treatment, said Li.

A total of 97 helicopters and ten air freighters had flown 298 flights, transporting 512 people and 760 tonnes of cargo.

The national death toll from the earthquake rose to 22,069 as of 2 p.m. Friday, while 168,669 people were injured, according to the emergency response office of the State Council.

In Gansu, 364 were killed, 109 in Shaanxi, 15 in Chongqing, two in Henan, one in Yunnan, and one in Hubei.

Seventeen people had been rescued from debris as of Friday in the county seat of Beichuan, Sichuan, where only one in five people survived the earthquake, the Beichuan quake control and relief headquarters said.

Zhang Yan, a 36-year-old woman pharmacist, was rescued at 2:36 p.m. on Friday. She was unconscious and soldiers carried her on their backs to a nearby medical center.

A 72-year-old woman named Deng Zhongqun was found by soldiers after being stranded at her badly damaged hillside house. She had been injured by a falling girder and had eaten only nuts over the past four days.

"Thank goodness for the soldiers. I only weigh 65 kilograms and they carried me by turns on their backs, walking miles to reach the medical station," said Deng.

2008-05-16