Russian rescuers have flown to quake-hit China to take part in search and rescue operations, local media reported on Friday.

An Il-76 transport aircraft overnight flew out from the Ramenskoye airfield, near Moscow, to the city of Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province that was most severely hit by the disaster on Monday, Itar-Tass quoted the Russian Emergencies Ministry's information department as saying.

On the board are 49 Russian specialists -- an operational group of four people of the Emergencies Ministry, three psychologists of the ministry's urgent psychological aid center, including its head Yulia Shoigu, 13 doctors and 29 rescuers of the ministry's Tsentrospas squad.

Another aircraft is planned to leave for China later in the day to transport 38 doctors from the Emergencies Ministry and the Russian disaster medicine center, an airmobile hospital and seven tons of medicines to the quake-hit region.

More than 50,000 people are feared dead in Sichuan Province alone after Monday's 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the rescue headquarters of the State Council said Thursday.

The confirmed death toll in Sichuan was 19,509 by 4:00 PM (0800 GMT) Thursday, up by 5,046 from Wednesday's 14,463, according to Li Chengyun, vice provincial governor of Sichuan.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2008)