Death toll reaches 26 in Baoxing_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Death toll reaches 26 in Baoxing

By about 4 pm on Monday, phone calls could be made to all the nine towns, but many still faced intermittent service.

Fallen rocks covered part of a parking lot near the gate of Baoxing Hainan High School. Several motor tricycles with people inside were buried under the huge pile of rocks. Four have been pulled out since the rescue operations started at 8 am on Sunday.

"There must be more motor tricycles underneath, and also about three to five people, but we have sensed no life signs since we started our work," said Yang Jun, chief of the Aba prefecture's fire brigade.

"Since these are sandstones, the trapped people have likely choked to death already, if they were not killed right away after the collapse," he said.

Yang's team was the first rescue team to enter the area. They entered Baoxing town at 8 pm on Saturday.

He said the road was OK for vehicles at first, but then rocks began to appear as they approached Baoxing. He saw three people dead after being hit by fallen rocks from the mountains and four other were injured.

Yue Xinghui, a 45-year-old woman who lives with her husband and father in Lingguan town, decided to head back home to Wulong town early Monday morning, which was isolated until the afternoon.

Worrying about his five other children at home, Yue's 81-year-old father ran even faster than her in the places where they had to cross on foot.

In the shelter located on the playground of Baoxing Hainan High School, 16-year-old Tang Chen was chatting with his classmates. He told China Daily that about 30 students from his class out of a total of 50 live in other towns. Most of them were at home when the earthquake hit the area on Saturday.