Eleven days after the powerful earthquake
that struck south-western China, an 80-year-old man has been rescued from a
collapsed building, state television reported Sunday.
The report said the man had been bound to his bed because he was
partially paralysed.
The man was not injured when the building collapsed and was found hiding under
a support beam.
His wife was able to give him water, thereby saving his life.
Rescue troops found the elderly couple on Friday in the city of Mianzhu in
Sichuan province. Using their bare hands, the troops moved the beams and rubble
to pull the man from the building.
Premier Wen Jiabao returned to Beijing Sunday following his second visit to the
earthquake-hit region.
Wen said he estimated that the number of dead from the 8.0- magnitude quake
could "further climb to a level of 70,000 or 80,000 or more."
The official death toll so far has been 60,560, with 26,000 still missing.
Wen met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday in the badly damaged city
of Yingxiu near the epicentre of the earthquake. Ban was in the area to
familiarize himself with the post-quake situation.
After visiting Sichuan, Ban flew on to Myanmar where he was due to chair a donor conference Sunday for the victims of Cyclone
Nargis, dpa reported.