Rescue accelerates as major aftershock hits Sichuan quake zone

Rescuers are racing against time to save those injured after a series of quakes in the Tibetan region in southwest China's Sichuan Province since Saturday.

VICTIM TRANSFERRED

Another three people were reported slightly injured after a 5.8-magnitude aftershock struck Kangding County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture at 11:19 p.m. Tuesday.

Two of the three injured were reported in Bamei township and one in Xiede township, Daofu county

The new injuries brought the number of the wounded following a 6.3-magnitude earthquake on Saturday afternoon to 68. The quake also killed five others on Saturday.

A total of 59 injured are now being treated in the hospital, among whom two patients are still critical, according to the provincial health and family planning committee.

One of them is being treated in the prefecture's People's Hospital. Wu Maoqing, a woman who suffered bone fractures on the neck and left leg was transferred by air to the West China Hospital of Sichuan University, based in the provincial capital Chengdu, on Tuesday, the committee told Xinhua.

Wu was hit by large stones falling from the mountains on Saturday and the hospital in Kangding can't provide proper treatment for her serious condition.

An airplane converted into a medical evac from Eastern Airlines carried Wu to Chengdu on Tuesday afternoon.

"If the treatment was delayed, she would have ended up with paralysis. So far, she is in stable condition. Doctors need further examination to see if her nervous system damaged," said an official with the committee.