Rizgan took an hour-long bus ride to downtown Urumqi to donate blood for those injured in Sunday's deadly riot.

"I'm furious at the brutal killings and hope to help those innocent people with my own blood," said the Uygur woman in her 50s.

As she was waiting in a long queue of volunteer donors at a temporary collection station on Friendship Road, Rizgan offered boiled eggs she brought from home to other donors.

Six days after the bloodshed in Urumqi, capital of the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the death toll has climbed to 184.

The riot in Xinjiang, the worst in six decades, caused a severe shortage of blood at local hospitals where more than 1,000 injured people were rushed in Sunday night.

Shortly after the shortage was reported, many citizens rolled up their sleeves, donating 200,000 mm of blood on Monday alone.

On Friday, Urumqi's blood center announced the shortage had been eased, but donors continued to pour in.

"Luckily I made an appointment with the station -- otherwise they wouldn't have taken my blood," said Gao Wensheng, a businessman in Urumqi, as he filled out a health form.

Insurance agent Han Yingjun was not as lucky: He visited three blood collection stations in two days but was unable to make a donation.

"When it was my turn, I was told they had collected enough for the day."

The city's blood center has placed a cap on daily collection since the shortage was eased, said official Wang Boling. "The shelf life of fresh blood is only 35 days and we don't want to waste any."

13: lucky number at adventurous night

"Many Westerners think number 13 is unlucky, but for us, it is auspicious," said Kamil Tursun, president of the Xinjiang Center for Performing Arts.

When the riot broke out Sunday evening, more than 700 performers and audience members were attending a dance contest. They were from 13 ethnic groups and were trapped for 13 hours at the center, fearing they might get killed out on the streets.

Kamil Tursun told the Han people to stay inside the theater with all the women, elderly and children.

"All the ethnic people followed my advice to keep guard outside in the hall," he said. "We know the rioters would target the Han people, so young men of ethnic minorities formed a defense wall at the entrance."

As artistic director Hanisi Hapiz put it, "It was like a fault line between heaven and hell."

Video recordings shot by the center's security camera showed the theater gate opened several times that night to fleeing citizens chased by the rioters.