800 armed police start rescue operation in quake-hit Wenchuan

Source: Xinhua | 05-14-2008 12:06

BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- By 8 a.m. Wednesday, more than 800 armed police had arrived at Wenchuan and started rescue operation in southwest China's Sichuan Province that was hit by a massive earthquake Monday afternoon.

People who were trapped in Yingxiu Town are transferred by soldiers to safe places in Wenchuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 14, 2008. Some 200 soldiers from the People's Liberation Army arrived at Wenchuan  County in early Wednesday morning. Wenchuan, the epicenter of Monday's 7.8 magnitude earthquake, claimed more than  10,000 lives.((Xinhua Photo)

Wednesday morning, two helicopters with relief supplies flied over the Yingxiu Town of Wenchuan County and three more are standing by to await orders at the Fenghuanshang airport, according to the Chengdu Military Command.

If weather conditions permit, the five helicopters will fly to Wenchuan County to air-drop relief supplies, according to the Chengdu Military Command.

From Beijing, two remote-sensing planes of China's naval forces departed at 7:00 a.m. Wednesday to quake-hit Sichuan to collect data of this region.

The road from Dujiangyan, a city northwest of the provincial capital Chengdu, to Wenchuan, the epicenter, was blocked by rocks and mud slides, holding up rescue, medical and other disaster relief teams.

A helicopter with relief supplies Wednesday morning  arrives at the Yingxiu Town of Wenchuan County, the  epicenter of Monday's earthquake that jolted southwest  China's Sichuan Province. (Xinhua Photo)

Several groups from the Chengdu Military Command have chosen towalk to the areas with heaviest damage inflicted by the quake.

As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sichuan reported 12,012 deaths in Monday's quake, according to the disaster relief center under the State Council.

Editor:Zhang Ning