Russian and Singaporean rescue teams on Sunday continued their work in the quake-stricken southwestern Sichuan Province.
According to a Chinese who accompanied the Russian rescuers, the Russian rescue team was still in Dujiangyan, a city southeast of the epicenter of the 8-magnitude earthquake in Wenchuan County.
The China Seismological Bureau on Sunday revised the quake magnitude from 7.8 to 8.0 on the Richter scale.
A 61-year-old woman was saved alive Saturday evening by Russian rescuers after being buried for up to 127 hours in the rubble.
Another group of the Russian rescue team was in search for life evidence in other places of Dujiangyan city.
Meanwhile, a 55-member rescue team from Singapore was working at Hongbai town, one of the worst-hit areas in Shifang City, Sichuan.
Near midday Sunday, the Singaporean team and Chinese rescuers jointly recovered the body of a 45-year-old woman from debris of a residential building in Hongbai after four hours of efforts.
"I appreciate very much their spirit of putting the safety of their own lives aside," said Liao Yutian, the dead woman's brother. Liao went to the base of the Singaporean team in Hongbai on Sunday evening to express his gratitude to them.
"As foreigners, they have no relations with us. But they did not hesitate to crawl into the building which was vulnerable to further collapse any time," Liao said.
The Singaporean rescuers had recovered two bodies of the quake victims on Saturday evening.
Bob Tan, a Singaporean rescuer, said it was a pity the possibility of finding survivors was small but they would continue to search.
According to the Chinese staff working with the Russian and Singaporean teams, the foreign rescuers were very careful when moving the bodies of the victims. They paid high respects to the victims, a comfort to the families of the victims.
More than 200 foreign rescuers from Japan, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Singapore are in Sichuan to help with rescue and relief.
(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2008)