Rescuers pulled three people alive from the earthquake debris in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Saturday afternoon, more than five days after the tremor.

In Yingxiu Township, in the epicenter county of Wenchuan, Jiang Yuhang, a highway administration employee, was extricated at about 5:12 PM after being trapped more than 120 hours in the rubble of his home.

The 20-year-old was on night shift and was sleeping when the earthquake struck on Monday afternoon.

Rescuers heard his voice at 8:00 AM on Saturday, and spent more than nine hours removing piles of debris.

"I was expecting to see my son's body, I never expected to see him alive," said Jiang's mother Long Jinyu, who arrived in Yingxiu about 2:00 PM on Saturday Guizhou Province.

Chen Fei, who led the rescue operation, said they had detected at least two other buried who were alive.

In a separate rescue, a 31-year-old woman named Bian Gangfen was rescued around 6:18 PM on Saturday in the Yinghua Township, Shifang City, after spending about 124 hours under the rubble of a chemical factory.

A group of fire-fighters from central China's Henan Province discovered Bian on Friday night. They used life detection equipment to check on her every few hours during the rescue.

Bian was conscious when they carried her out and said "Thank you" to the people around her. Doctors said she had suffered back injuries and took her to a local hospital.

Also in Shifang, Zhou Zhi, 33, was pulled alive at about 6:00 PM from the rubble of a workshop above ground at the Jinhe Mine in Hongbai Township.

In the quake-hit areas, rescue forces, including those from Russia, Singapore, Japan and the Republic of Korea, are searching for buried survivors five days after the powerful earthquake, which struck Sichuan at 2:28 PM on Monday.

The Information Office of the State Council put the quake death toll at 28,881 nationwide as of 2:00 PM Saturday. In Sichuan alone, more than 28,300 died, and at least 10,600 people remain buried, said Sichuan Province Vice Governor Li Chengyun.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2008)