The death toll of the May 12 earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province has claimed 62,664 lives and left 358,816 injured and 23,775 missing as of 12:00 am Sunday, according to the State Council Information Office.

Guo Weimin, director of the State Council Information Office, announced the latest official statistics of the Wenchuan Earthquake, on behalf the State Council General Headquarters for the Earthquake Relief, at Sunday's press conference in Beijing.

As of 24:00 Saturday, a total of 638,305 people had been rescued and resettled to safer places by the military and civilian rescuers, said Guo, citing figures from the Chinese People's Liberation Army headquarters.

Guo said that as of 12:00 AM Sunday, a total of 82,907 people had been hospitalized, 51,826 had left the hospital, and 3,515 died in hospital, citing Ministry of Health reports.

Sichuan Province has sent 5,149 people injured in the earthquake to other provinces for medical treatment, the official said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2008)