By Prensa Latina,
Beijing : The final death toll of the powerful earthquake that shook the China province of Sichuan and has plunged the country into mourning, could reach at 50,000.
This is the first time that official sources estimate the future result on a tragic telluric phenomenon.
The first-aid post in charge of coordinating rescue operations revealed the information through a dispatch from the Xinhua agency.
The death toll confirmed until Thursday’s afternoon as a result of the Monday earthquake, with 7.8 degrees on the Richter scale, could reach about 20,000.
According to local authorities, the death toll has only reached over 19,500 in Sichuan
The number of missing, injured people and those buried in the rubbles could reach tens of thousands more.
Army troops, policemen and civil first-aiders are intensively working to save the larger quantity of possible survivors.