About 1,600 armed police officers and People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers were hiking on Sunday toward an expanding "quake lake" in southwest Sichuan Province, hoping to blast away its landslide barrier before it bursts and causes a flood.

"The rescuers have 10 kilograms of dynamite each and are expected to arrive at the site on Sunday night," a PLA spokesman told Xinhua on Sunday.

Earlier attempts to send military helicopters on the same mission were hampered by adverse weather and low visibility at the Tangjiashan lake site in Beichuan County, one of the hardest-hit areas in the 8.0-magnitude earthquake of May 12.

The local meteorological bureau forecast high winds and thunderstorms for the area on Sunday and Monday.

The Tangjiashan quake lake, which is in danger of bursting as water builds up in it, is one of the more than 30 such lakes in rivers blocked by landslides from the earthquake and thousands of aftershocks.

The lake is 3.2 km upstream from the Beichuan County seat, from which thousands of survivors have been evacuated since Wednesday.

Its barrier is in danger of bursting as the water level rose by nearly 2 meters on Saturday to 723 meters, only 29 meters below the lowest part of the barrier, which measured 752 meters high.

At an emergency meeting in Chengdu, the Sichuan capital, on Sunday, Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu ordered rescuers to remove the risk "with utmost effort and within the shortest possible time."

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2008)