Gao Yin, a student of Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan, is carried out from the rubble yesterday morning after six hours of rescue efforts. Nearly 1,000 students and teachers were buried in the rubble after the school building collapsed on Monday. Xu Jingxing

Zhou Xingrong, 53, was in her son's school at 2.28 pm on Monday in Dujiangyan.

She was in the main building of Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan - one of the worst-hit areas - talking with her son's teacher, when the 7.8-magnitude quake hit the city, demolishing many of its buildings, including the school.

Since she was close to an exit, she managed to escape.

"I rushed out to the playground when there was a very loud noise. When I turned back, the whole building collapsed," she said.

It was only then that it struck her that her son was still inside.

Lu Qianliang and most of his schoolmates were buried beneath the rubble of the collapsed building. A day after the quake, they were still there - about 1,000 of them, teachers and students.

As their chances of survival grew dimmer, Zhou and many other parents could only hope for a miracle.

They stood in the downpour, praying.

Little remained of the original structure of the school. No standing beams, no walls. Only the rubble lay low against the earth.

More than 1,000 students and teachers were in class at the time of the quake, according to local residents.

And it appeared that except for those who rushed out immediately from the ground floor in the first seconds, most in the four-story building were buried, some killed instantly.

The playground has been turned into a makeshift mortuary with about 50 bodies, covered in white cloth, in a big tent.

Heartbroken parents lit candles in front of the bodies, some crying, some asking for forgiveness as they blamed themselves for even letting them go to school.

Rescue work was in full swing around the clock.

Till last evening, four cranes were delicately excavating, hundreds of PLA soldiers were painstakingly searching the ruins, and 50 medical workers waiting to provide first-aid to anyone lucky to survive.

A ray of light of hope finally shone yesterday morning.

Gao Yin was saved at 8:52 am after rescuers spent six hours to get her out of the rubble. She was discovered with her legs twisted between collapsed desks and chairs, and her head under two piling cement boards.

For fear of causing further damage, rescue workers stood in line, passing the bricks and stones dug out by hands.

Gao's legs are broken, but Li Jun, a doctor from a Chengdu military hospital, said the injury is not life-threatening.

"I was so happy when I saw her eyes were open," said Wang Neng, a doctor who had seen few eyes with life reflecting in them.

His task is to check the pupils of those who are pulled out and see if they were alive.

At least 60 have been confirmed dead but residents estimate the eventual death toll could reach hundreds.

But many parents were still waiting. Zhang Tianchun, 38, said he could not go home unless he saw his daughter, a ninth-grader, dead or alive. "I have to wait for her."

No one could tell exactly how many students have been rescued and sent to Chengdu for treatment.

Dujiangyan is about midway between Chengdu and the epicenter, Wenchuan.

"I have to wait here to save the children," said Han Juwen, a doctor from a hospital in the suburbs of Chengdu.

"We have to do everything we can as long as the slimmest hope remains."

Elsewhere

At least 1,000 students and teachers were dead or missing when the main building of Beichuan Middle School in Mianyang collapsed.

At least 200 children were buried when two schools affiliated to a steam turbine factory in Hanwang Township of Mianzhu, 30 km from the epicenter Wenchuan, toppled in the quake.

Several other schools have collapsed in Deyang and Aba Prefecture, near the epicenter.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2008)