United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived at Yingxiu town in China's southwestern Wenchuan County at 11:25 AM Saturday by helicopter to express his sympathy for those who suffered from the devastating earthquake on May 12.

Yingxiu, in Sichuan Province, is one of the zones worst-stricken by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, which had claimed 55,740 lives nationwide as of Friday noon, or 55,239 in Sichuan alone as of 7:00 PM Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2008)