A four-year-old girl and a Tibetan woman have been pulled alive from the rubble of an earthquake in western China more than five days after they were trapped.

China poured rescue workers and equipment into a mountainous Tibetan region today in a bid to find survivors after earthquakes killed more than 600 people and injured thousands.

At least 400 people were killed in a series of strong earthquakes that struck a remote area of China today.

The death toll from a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit western China rose to around 300 today, with 8,000 people said to have been injured.