CHENGDU -- More than 9,500 people remain buried in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Sunday, six days after an 8-magnitude earthquake struck on May 12, according to the Sichuan provincial government.
The death toll in Sichuan alone had exceeded 31,900 as of 4 p.m. on Sunday, and more than 209,900 people were injured, said Vice Governor of Sichuan Li Chengyun at a news conference.
Nationwide, the confirmed death toll rose to 32,477 on Sunday, and the estimated death toll is more than 50,000.
Li said about 36,563 people had been pulled from the debris by Sunday, and more than 4.5 million people were staying in government shelters.
Rescuers, including those from Russia, Japan, Singapore and the Republic of Korea, were still battling to search for buried survivors.
A slightly-bruised man named Tang Xiong was rescued at 9:15 a.m. Sunday from a collapsed hospital of Beichuan, about 139 hours after the quake.
Rescuers said he was conscious when he was pulled out. His wife has been rescued on Thursday.
Around 4 p.m., Russian rescuers detected signs of life in the rubble of a government building in the Dujiangyan City, and pulled out three dogs. Rescuers said they have not detected any survivors near the area. The Russian rescuers had rescued a 61-year-old woman on Saturday evening.
China Central Television reported a man was rescued at 3:36 p.m. on Sunday from his collapsed office building in Maoxian county, about 50 kilometers northeast of the epicenter Wenchuan County.
But continuous aftershocks and rain have been complicating the rescue operations. A moderate aftershock, measuring six on the Richter scale, hit Jiangyou City, Sichuan Province, at 1:08 a.m. Sunday.
Vice Governor Li said they had received no reports of deaths caused by the aftershocks.
Li said the provincial finance department has received 2.6 billion yuan of disaster relief funds from the central government and donators
Li pledged the funds would be properly used, and information on the use of the funds would be published every 15 days.
"The provincial disciplinary inspection committee has sent 12 supervision teams to oversee the reception, management and distribution of the relief materials and funds," he said.
The government also urged people to report suspected misappropriations, Li added.
