Rescuers in quake-hit NW China save 17,000 lives
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-20 18:20
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BEIJING -- Rescuers in the quake-hit Yushu prefecture of northwest China's Qinghai province have saved 17,000 people trapped after Wednesday's 7.1-magnitude earthquake, an official said here Sunday.
A total of 6,870 people had been pulled out from under the rubble of collapsed buildings, among whom 6,110 survived, Miao Chonggang, deputy head of the China Earthquake Administration's quake relief and emergency response department, told a press conference.
By 5 p.m. Saturday, as least 1,484 people were killed, 12,088 were injured and 312 are still missing after the earthquake struck Yushu early Wednesday.
Miao said currently more than 15,000 rescuers, including over 11,000 from the People's Liberation Army and armed police, 2,800 firefighters and special police forces, and 1,500 earthquake and mine accident rescuers, are still searching for quake survivors in Yushu.