Reporter recalls brush with death
China Daily journalist CHEN JIA was trapped for hours in a crushed minibus which was buried under rubble and was hanging on the edge of a cliff moments after Monday's earthquake shook Sichuan.

Girl's legs amputated to free her from rubble
HANWANG, Mianzhu: Doctors amputated a teenage girl's crushed legs yesterday, the only way they could pull her alive from the wreckage of her school three days after an earthquake flattened swathes of Sichuan province.

Toll estimate 50,000
The death toll from the country's worst earthquake in three decades is estimated at more than 50,000, the rescue headquarters of the State Council said yesterday, as rescuers finished rushed repairs on a quake-damaged road from Lixian county to the epicenter at 9 pm.