The 60 members of the Japanese rescue team in southwest China had 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, were searching for lives in the remaining two-floors of a seven-storey building of the county's planning and construction department.

Li Chan, an official with the department, said tearfully that probably more than 20 of the 40 staff members were buried under the debris of the building.

Right opposite the devastated building are the collapsed buildings of the new campus of Beichuan middle school.

Another group working in Beichuan middle school had took seven bodies out of the debris on Sunday morning.

Around the same time, local fire fighters carried three bodies out of the collapsed school, where hundreds of students are still buried.

The Japanese, after arriving at Beichuan late on Saturday, started life detection operations in Beichuan county town and the middle school despite rain. They are still searching for survivors at the two sites.

Civilians not involved in relief work have been evacuated from Beichuan, which is still a dangerous place.

Fire-fighters, medical workers and armed police are there working with Japanese rescuers. Medical workers are spreading disinfection liquid and pesticide in the town.

The Japanese team, the first group of foreign rescue professionals to arrive in quake-stricken Sichuan Province, reached here by bus from Qingchuan, where they found bodies of a mother Song Aimei and her 70-day-old daughter in the debris of a building.

In Qingchuan, the death toll was approaching 1,900.

"Now, the chances of survival are very slim, but there are cases of people surviving this long before, so, we won't give up," said Takashi Koizumi, head of the Japanese team.

Surviving residents had volunteered to give the rescuers supper in the evening, together with instant noodles and boiled water.