China rescuers seek survivors in hard-hit town

Dozens of people were streaming out, looking for food and shelter after being trapped for days.

"We've been terrified since the earthquake destroyed our home," said Shen Xinyong, who trekked for six hours down a mountain to Beichuan with her husband, two children and parents, hoping to reach the city of Mianyang 56 miles away.

"We've been digging the earth for our food -gourds, potatoes -anything we've planted," said Shen, 27. Dressed in jeans and a white sweater, she said the family brought little more than the clothes they were wearing because of the long journey.

Some brought more. Two men carried a wide-screen television, while one pushed an elderly woman in a wheelchair. Yet another struggled with a plastic-wrapped corpse in a wheelbarrow.

Walking through the tumble of mud and chunks of concrete, steel and glass on what's left of Beichuan's streets were hundreds of soldiers and desperate relatives searching for family, some gripping bags of food and medicine.

Among them was Liu Jingyong, a 43-year-old migrant worker, who rushed back from Zhenghzou city several provinces away to try to find his cousin.

"I have not had any information from him," said Liu, who spent two days riding a bus and hiking. "This is so hard on me. I don't know what is going on."

Throughout the day, teams of volunteers from all over China -some with specially trained dogs -made their way through the debris, shouting for survivors.

A teenage student was pulled from the wreckage of her school by the five volunteers who heard her tapping and then tracked the sounds. The girl shielded her eyes from the sun when she emerged, wan and quiet, said Xu Tao, a volunteer.

The same team later rescued the middle-aged woman, who after crying out to them was too weak to speak.