Date:14/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/14/stories/2008051452402000.htm
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Soldiers save thousands

PHOTO: XINHUA

INFANT'S PAIN: Medical personnel give emergency treatment to an injured baby in Dujiangyan city in Sichuan Province.

CHENGDU: Hundreds of Chinese soldiers reached the epicentre area of the earthquake on Tuesday and pulled out more than 1,000 people from the debris, according to the disaster relief headquarters of the Chengdu Military Area Command.

PHOTO: XINHUA

REMAINS OF THE DAY: Cars lie buried in the debris of collapsed buildings in Dujiangyan, in Sichuan Province.

Xia Guofu, the Sichuan provincial military commander, led a team of more than 300 soldiers into Wenchuan county, Sichuan Province. More troops were expected, said Ye Wanyong, political commissar of the command.

PHOTO: XINHUA

UNDER THE SKY: Patients from some hospitals were moved to open spaces to avoid the danger of falling objects, in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

On Monday, rescuers were stranded outside Wenchuan as the roads were blocked by boulders and rocks.

PHOTO: AP

ACTS OF GRIT: Rescue workers pull out a young girl from under the rubble of a collapsed school in Juyuan, in Sichuan Province, on Tuesday.

On the way to Wenchuan, a Xinhua reporter encountered five men who escaped the disaster. Tan Bin, 56, a resident in the Shuimo township of Wenchuan, said they had walked more than 50 km from Wenchuan. “When the quake happened, we couldn’t stand straight, and we held each other’s hands and ran out of our factory,” he said. The five men had their clothes wet and dirty and they all had bruises on them.

“The quake seemed to have turned our town upside down, all the bridges and tunnels were destroyed,” Mr. Tan said. — Xinhua

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