Two women who had been trapped beneath the rubbles following a powerful earthquake that jolted southwest China's Sichuan Province a week ago were saved alive on Monday.
Rescuers said they heard a feeble voice calling for help from within while searching the rubble of a residential building of Tianchi Mining Company on Hanwang Township in Mianzhu at 10:25 a.m. Monday.
The victim, who was pulled out through 40 minutes' efforts, was identified as Wang Fazhen who is in her 50s. Having been buried below a bed board for a long time, Wang showed symptoms of shock shortly after she was pulled out.
Wang was rushed to the hospital after the on-site health workers conducted a brief checkup on her.
Rescuers said their life search device also detected there might be three more survivors in the vicinity of the place where Wang was found.
Another woman, Li Mingcui, 61, was also saved at 10:40 a.m. from below the rubble in the old town area of Qushan Township in Beichuan County near the epicenter.
Rescuers said Li had multiple bone fractures and suffered serious infections, but remained conscious.
A powerful earthquake measuring 8 on Richter scale, struck Sichuan Province, at 2:28 p.m. on May 12. The devastating earthquake has left 34,073 people dead as of 12:00 a.m. Monday, according to the earthquake relief headquarters of the State Council.
The total deaths might exceed 50,000.
The death toll in Sichuan alone stood at 32,173 as of 7 p.m. Sunday. And another 9,509 people remained buried, 29,418 others were missing and 209,914 were injured, said Liu Qibao, Party chief of the province, at a teleconference on disaster relief.
More than 100,000 soldiers and rescuers, including those from Russia, Japan, Singapore and the Republic of Korea, are still battling to search for buried survivors in the quake zone.
About 36,563 people had been pulled from the debris by Sunday, and more than 4.5 million people were staying in government shelters, said Vice Governor of Sichuan Li Chengyun at Sunday's news conference.
(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2008)