Rescuing survivors remains the top priority in Sichuan Province in southwest China, vice governor Li Chengyun said on Friday, 11 days after the worst earthquake hit the country since the founding of New China in 1949.

Last week's 8.0-magnitude quake center in Wenchuan County has left 55,239 dead in Sichuan alone as of 7:00 PM Thursday, 281,066 injured and 24,949 still missing, and rescuers have pulled a total of 83,988 people from rubble, Li said.

More than 140,000 troops and 48,680 medical workers have been mobilized to Sichuan for disaster relief, he said.

"Saving people is still the top priority in our work," he said. "We will do our best to save people on the thinnest hope."

Although the prime time for quake survivors' rescue, or 72 hours after the quake, had passed, life miracles have been reported during the searches. For instance, a 35-year-old woman Cui Changhui in Shifang was saved on Wednesday, nine days after she had been trapped in a water diversion tunnel.

In terms of the intensity and scope of destruction, the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake is believed to have surpassed the 7.8-magnitude quake in 1976 in Tangshan, northern Hebei Province, which claimed more than 240,000 lives.

(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2008)