THE Chinese government yesterday warned the earthquake death toll could soar to 50,000, as it issued a rare public appeal for rescue equipment.
More than 72 hours after the quake, the relief effort appeared to shift from searching fallen buildings for survivors to the grim duty of retrieving bodies.
The confirmed death toll reached 19,509, up from 15,000, while more than 12,300 remai
ned buried.
In Luoshui town – on the road to an industrial zone where two chemical plants collapsed, burying hundreds of people – troops used a mechanical shovel to dig a pit on a hilltop to bury the dead.
Police and militia in Dujiangyan pulverised rubble with cranes and diggers while crews used shovels to pick around larger pieces of debris. On a side street, about a dozen bodies were laid on a pavement, while incense sticks placed in a pile of sand sent smoke into the air as a tribute and to dull the stench of death.
Not all hope of finding survivors was lost. After more than three days trapped under debris, a 22-year-old woman was pulled to safety in Dujiangyan. Covered in dust and peering out through a small opening, she was shown waving on state television shortly before being rescued. "I was confident that you were coming to rescue me. I'm alive. I'm so happy," she said.
The full article contains 234 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
