Rescuers save 17,000 lives in China quake

BEIJING - Rescuers have saved 17,000 people from the rubble of the collapsed buildings following a devastating earthquake in northwest China, Xinhua reported Sunday.

The magnitude 7.1 quake Wednesday left more than 1,400 people dead.

The epicentre of the temblor was in the Yushu prefecture of China’s Qinghai province.

More than 15,000 rescuers, including 11,000 personnel from the People’s Liberation Army and the police, are still searching for quake survivors in Yushu, Miao Chonggang, deputy head of the emergency response department of the China Earthquake Administration, told a press conference.