(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-19 10:13

More than 200 emergency workers from Japan, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Singapore continued helping search for survivors in Sichuan province on Sunday.

The Japanese team was the first to arrive in Sichuan on Saturday.

They found the bodies of Song Aimei and her 2-month-old daughter in the debris of a building in Qingchuan county. The Japanese team stood in silent mourning for one minute in front of the victims before sending them away.

"The chance for the victims to survive is very slim, but we also had precedents to find survivors days after being trapped. So, we won't give up," said Takashi Koizumi, head of the Japanese team.

The Japanese team split in two on Sunday in the hope of finding earthquake survivors in Beichuan county, one of the area's worst hit by the May 12 tremor. A 20-plus group, with three sniffer dogs and life detection apparatus, searched the remaining two floors of a seven-storey building of the county's planning and construction department.

Li Chan, an official with the anti-quake office of the department, said there are probably more than 20 of the 40 plus staff members buried under the debris of the building.

Another group carried out rescue operation at a collapsed middle school nearby where more than 700 students are still trapped.

Firefighters, medical workers and armed policemen worked with Japanese rescuers. Medical workers spread disinfection liquid and pesticide in the town.

Local quake survivors were very touched by the Japanese team's professionalism and respect for the victims.

Hearing that they had eaten nothing since afternoon, locals sent four boxes of instant noodles and boiled water.

"Please express our sincere gratitude to them. Thanks for coming to help us from so far away," a local young man, who only gave his surname Wei, told Xinhua reporters at the site.

Russians became the first international rescue team to save a life after they pulled out an old woman who had been trapped under rubble for 127 hours.

According to a Chinese who accompanied the Russian rescuers, the 51-member Russian rescue team was in Dujiangyan where they found the woman from a collapsed residential building.

Meanwhile, a team of rescue workers from the Republic of Korea (ROK) has vowed to keep scouring the rubble of Southwest China's earthquake zone until all hope of survival "miracles" is lost.

"Although the chances of survival for those trapped are slim, we are still searching for miracles," said team leader Kim Yong-suk on Sunday.

Kim and his 40 rescue team members were searching through the debris of a flattened chemical plant of Shifang city. They recovered two bodies on Saturday. They have been using life detection equipment in the twisted ruins of buildings, factories and schools since they began work on Saturday, but have so far failed to find any survivors.

They flew into Sichuan on Friday, and Kim has yet to phone his family. "I am most concerned about the rescue work and safety of my team," said Kim, 55. "I have no time to think about other things."

Two-thirds of the crew had international rescue experience. "We rescuers are of the same family," Kim said. When he saw TV footage of Chinese professional rescuers at work, he wanted to join them immediately.

Kim, with more than 33 years of rescue experience, said he was deeply moved by the great resources the Chinese government had dispatched in money, materials and personnel for disaster relief.

"We have brought advanced equipment and experienced crew, together with anti-epidemic medicines," said Kim.

Also in Shifang, a 55-member rescue team from Singapore was working at Hongbai town. The Singaporean rescuers had recovered two bodies of the quake victims on Saturday evening.

Foreign rescuers paid high respects to the victims, and were a comfort to the families, say Chinese staff working with the Russian and Singaporean teams. The Foreign Ministry has provided interpreters to go with the rescue teams.

President Hu Jintao Saturday night expressed gratitude to foreign countries and people who have offered aid since a major earthquake struck the country.

"On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the State Council and the Central Military Commission, I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international friends that have contributed to our quake-relief work," Hu said.

Hu, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at a meeting on rescue and relief work after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake ravaged southwestern Sichuan province Monday afternoon.