The People's Liberation Army on Tuesday carried out its largest airlift yet, with 22 military transporters and 12 civilian passenger planes used, to move personnel and equipment to the quake-hit Sichuan Province, according to army headquarters.

The source said Tuesday saw the largest number of troops airlifted, the largest number of planes used, and the largest number of flights flown by the army in a single day.

In 79 flights, 11,420 service people flew from airports in Luoyang, Kaifeng and Wuhan cities in central China to Chengdu, Sichuan's capital.

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.8 degrees on the Richter scale struck Sichuan on Monday, at 2:28 PM, causing enormous loss of lives and property.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2008)