Rescue workers continue search for survivors

Rescue workers sifted through tangled debris of toppled schools and homes today for thousands of victims buried or missing after China’s worst earthquake in three decades, as the death toll soared to more than 12,000 people in the hardest-hit province alone.

As night fell the day after the powerful 7.9 magnitude quake tore through urban areas and mountain villages across central China, rescue workers reached the epicentre in Wenchuan county, north of the Sichuan provincial capital, Chengdu.