Official: Five in copter crash only military quake relief deaths

Source: Xinhua | 06-11-2008 19:55

BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Except for five crew members killed in a helicopter crash, no soldiers died in quake rescue operations in Sichuan Province, a senior military officer said Wednesday.

Ma Jian, deputy director of the Combat Department of the General Staff Headquarters of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), said the military has paid close attention to the soldiers' safety during disaster relief work.

"There were some injuries," he told a press conference, without giving details.

Some 130,000 troops and armed police, who were involved in the rescue work following the May 12 earthquake, are now helping to relocate survivors and resume production and reconstruction, said Yang Qingtang, senior officer with the PLA General Political Department.

He said the troops had rescued 3,336 survivors from under the debris.

As of Tuesday, military personnel had excavated more than 10 million cubic meters of debris, repaired more than 10,000 km of roads, erected 267,000 tents and forwarded more than 800,000 tons of relief goods to the quake zone, he said.

They also set up more than 80 "tent schools" where some 30,000 students had resumed classes, he said.

The 8.0-magnitude quake centered in Sichuan claimed nearly 70,000 lives, left another 17,516 missing, injured 374,131 people and made millions homeless.

The accident took place on May 31 as a military helicopter crashed while transferring 13 injured local residents from the quake epicenter.

The debris was found northwest of Yingxiu Township on Tuesday, with all those on board, including five crew members, dead.

Editor:Xiong Qu