A group of earthquake relief professionals sent by Japan arrived in southwest China's Sichuan Province Friday to become the first foreign rescuers working in China since 1949.

The 31 rescuers began searching for three people, including a mother and her 70-day-old baby, buried in a collapsed building in the county seat of Qingchuan on Friday afternoon.

Although well-equipped, the Japanese rescuers had to use their hands to dig in the debris for the safety of those who were trapped.

They were the first foreign emergency personnel to enter China since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Sichuan on Monday afternoon.

Takashi Koizumi, head of the Japanese team, said the situation in Qingchuan was very severe, but they were very confident in their task.

He said saving lives was the top priority and the Japanese rescuers would spare no effort. They are scheduled to stay in Qingchuan for at least a week, depending on the situation.

Rescue teams from Russia, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Singapore have also arrived in Sichuan to help rescue efforts.

The death toll from the powerful earthquake rose to 22,069 nationwide as of 2:00 PM Friday, with 168,669 were injured, according to the emergency response office of the State Council. The final death toll is expected to exceed 50,000.

Monday's quake was the worst since the Tangshan earthquake that claimed more than 240,000 lives in 1976.

However, the Chinese government, stressing "self-reliance" at that time, refused foreign assistance after the Tangshan quake.

China had made another step in opening up to the outside world by accepting foreign assistance in disaster relief, said Zhou Ruijin, former deputy chief editor of the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China.

"It is an open attitude in the era of economic globalization," said Zhou, co-author of a famous article in 1991 advocating the reform and opening-up drive.

Qian Gang, author of the well-known book Tangshan Earthquake, said, "With 30 years of reform and opening-up, China is more open to the outside and has changed its way of thinking."

Four years after the Tangshan earthquake, China accepted foreign relief materials after floods and droughts, for the first time since 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded. China had expressed gratitude to willingness and offers from other countries to send relief teams, and for the messages of support and the earthquake relief aid.

China has played an active role in recent years, sending rescuers to Indonesia, Pakistan, Algeria and other nations in the wake of major disasters.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2008)