Hopes of survival are dwindling for eight Chinese police officers trapped under rubble in Port-au-Prince, chief of the Chinese rescue team said Friday.

The Chinese rescue team was doing everything possible to speed up the search for the officers, hoping that miracles could happen, Huang Jianfa told Xinhua.

The UN building under which they were buried was practically flattened in the magnitude-7.3 temblor, leaving almost no space for life in the debris, Huang said.

Built halfway on a hill, the UN building received a harder impact from the quake than ground constructions, he said. Repeated repairs and remodeling had also made rescue work more difficult.

US and French rescuers, who turned up first at the scene, have quitted the building, believing that rescue for any survivor is mission impossible.

Not far from the rubble, families of trapped UN peace-keepers waited quietly as aid workers from China, Brazil, Israel and Nepal cut through collapsed walls and lift debris in search for possible signs of life.

Four of the missing Chinese officers were part of a six-member team that just arrived in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday afternoon.

The eight Chinese officers were meeting UN officials in the building when the quake struck.

There were 142 Chinese peace-keeping police officers in Haiti, and the others are accounted for.

Members of Chinese International Rescue Team work at the debris at the headquarters of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, January 15, 2010. Huang Jianfa, head of the Chinese rescue team, said the team would do their best to find the missing Chinese in the debris as soon as possible.  [Xinhu]

 

A members of Chinese International Rescue Team works at the debris at the headquarters of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, January 15, 2010.[Xinhua]