Quake in China’s Sichuan province kills 19, injures 247

Beijing: At least 19 people were killed and nearly 250 others injured after a powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck a mountainous region in China’s southwest Sichuan province, with rescuers on Wednesday evacuating over 45,000 tourists from the area, according to the official media.

The temblor that struck the popular tourist destination in Jiuzhaigou County last night was followed by another 6.6- magnitude quake on Wednesday in the far northwestern region of Xinjiang province, more than 2,000-km away.

The massive earthquake in Sichuan struck at 9:19 PM (local time) last night and the epicentre was monitored at a depth of 20 km, state-run Xinhua new agency reported.

Jiuzhaigou, or Jiuzhai Valley, is a national park famed for more than 140 lakes whose waters range from crystal-clear to turquoise, lying at the feet of forest-clad mountains.

The death toll in the quake in Sichuan has risen to 19, with 247 injured, including 40 seriously, authorities said.

The injured included a French man and a Canadian woman. The exact number of casualties of foreign nationals in the disaster was not immediately known.

Five among the dead were visitors to the Jiuzhaigou national park, China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC) said.