40 survivors rescued 16 days after quake

Chinese medical personnel carry an earthquake survivor arriving at the railway station in Beijing yesterday. The death toll from China's earthquake rose to 68,109 with another 19,851 missing, a government spokesman said.Photo: AFP

Forty half-starved earthquake survivors have been rescued from a remote area in southwestern China a full 16 days after the disaster, state press reported on Thursday.
They were flown out by helicopter on Wednesday from the quake-shattered village of Yangjiagou in Sichuan province, the West China Metropolitan Daily said.
The survivors had been prevented from escaping by landslides triggered by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12, which had blocked roads in the rugged region, it said.
The village is 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the nearest town.
The survivors, who included local villagers and a group of mining company workers, were flown to a nearby temporary camp for earthquake survivors.