The toll of the dead and missing soared as rescue workers dug through the rubble of flattened schools and homes on Tuesday in a desperate attempt to find survivors of China’s worst earthquake in three decades, which struck yesterday morning.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the death toll exceeded 12,000 in one province alone, and 18,645 were still buried in debris in the city of Mianyang, near the epicenter of Monday’s massive, 7.9-magnitude quake. There are also more than 26,000 people injured in Mianyang.

(AP)