China's Defense Ministry said early Thursday that it has ordered the deployment of 101 more helicopters to the quake-hit Sichuan Province.

The General Staff of the People's Liberation Army has ordered the airborne troops of the Army and Air Force to send 71 more transport helicopters to help the quake relief work, a spokesman of the Ministry told Xinhua.

He said the civil aviation department will also send 30 transport helicopters to the quake-hit area.

These helicopters will engage in airdropping materials, transferring the wounded and delivering troops, said the spokesman.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2008)