Special report: Strong Earthquake Jolts SW China

    SHIFANG, Sichuan, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers on Wednesday extricated a woman who had been trapped in a tunnel in a hydropower plant construction site for nine days since the May 12 earthquake in southwest China.

    Cui Changhui, 35, was rescued at 2:30 p.m. from the water diversion tunnel in Shifang, Sichuan Province.

    Accompanied by medical workers, she was airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment.

    Pu Jinhui, a doctor who tended her, said she suffered multiple fractures in her right arm, ribs and lower back, but her injuries were not life-threatening.

    Cui lived on two apples and a pear which her trapped colleagues left her before they went out of the tunnel to search food. She was found alive on Sunday when one of her surviving colleague Li Jun trekked back to send food to her.

    "I had thought she would have died," Li told Xinhua on telephone. "Unexpectedly, she was still alive!"

    Cui was perhaps the survivor to have been rescued after being trapped for the longest time so far since the May 12 massive quake which jolted Sichuan Province.

    A total of 40,854 people have been confirmed dead in Sichuan alone in the 8.0-magnitude quake. The quake also affected other provinces. The death toll nationwide was 41,353 as of noon on Wednesday.

Woman rescued 195 hours after China's earthquake

    CHENGDU, May 20 (Xinhua) -- A 60-year-old woman was rescued at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday from rubble in Pengzhou, southwest China's Sichuan Province, more than 196 hours after the May 12 earthquake.

    Wang Liqun, a retiree from the provincial capital of Chengdu, had lived on rainwater in the past days. She, still conscious when rescuers found her, was rushed to hospital. Full Story

Man alive nearly 179 hours after quake

    CHONGQING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Ma Yuanjiang, a power plant executive, was rescued at around 00:50 a.m. Tuesday from the rubble in Wenchuan County of southwest China's Sichuan Province, nearly 179 hours after the May 12 earthquake.

    His internal organs were in good condition, but the left forearm had to be amputated, said doctors of the Chongqing Xinqiao Hospital affiliated to the No. Three University of Medical Science of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Ma was rushed to the hospital in Chongqing at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.  Full story