China earthquake death toll exceeds 19,500

More than 72 hours after the quake rattled central China, rescuers appeared to shift from poring through downed buildings for survivors to the grim duty of searching for bodies -with 10 million directly affected by Monday's temblor.

As their operations continued, the official death toll rose above 19,500 in Sichuan province alone where Monday's quake was centered, the regional government said Thursday, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The figure was up from nearly 15,000 on Wednesday.

With some roads cleared, rescue workers were able to move heavy equipment into the worst-affected areas for the first time. Previously, soldiers riding to isolated mountain villages on helicopters and small boats had been forced to dig for survivors with their hands.

In Luoshui town -on the road to an industrial zone in Shifang city where two chemical plants collapsed, burying hundreds of people -troops used a mechanical shovel to dig a pit on a hilltop to bury the dead. Two bodies wrapped in white sheets lie near the pit.

Police and militia in Dujiangyan pulverized rubble with cranes and backhoes while crews used shovels to pick around larger pieces of debris. On one sidestreet, about a dozen bodies were laid on a sidewalk, while incense sticks placed in a pile of sand sent smoke into the air as a tribute and to dull the stench of death.

The bodies were later lifted onto a flatbed truck, joining some half-dozen corpses. Ambulances sped past, sirens wailing, filled with survivors. Workers asked those left homeless to sign up for temporary housing, although it was unclear where they would live.

Plans for the Defense Ministry to deploy 101 more helicopters underscored worries that the death toll would continue to skyrocket as time runs out to find survivors. Nearly 26,000 people remained buried in collapsed buildings.

Not all hope of finding survivors was lost. After more than three days trapped under debris, a 22-year-old woman was pulled to safety in Dujiangyan. Covered in dust and peering out through a small opening, she was shown waving on state television shortly before being rescued.

"I was confident that you were coming to rescue me. I'm alive. I'm so happy," the unnamed woman said on CCTV.