By Xinhua,
Sichuan (China) : At least 270 students were killed when their three-storey school building collapsed in Monday’s devastating earthquake in China, officials said Thursday.
Around 400 students were inside the building when the temblor struck in the southwestern Sichuan province. Only 139 students could escape from the dormitory of the Muyu Middle School in Qingchuan County, officials said.
Hundreds of rescuers are still searching for survivors under the debris. On Wednesday, 84 students were taken out from the rubble.
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, a seventh grader, He Cuiqing, was pulled out after she was trapped under the debris for 50 hours.
“She appeared very fragile, and there were blood stains on her chest,” Wang Guangfen, a nurse, said.
“But she was still conscious, and called me aunt when I reached her,” she added.