A helicopter rescued eight workers yesterday afternoon after they were trapped for 16 days in the quake-devastated mountainous region near Mianzhu City, a Chengdu-based newspaper reported today.

The workers, including a 68-year-old, survived on 5 kilograms of rice they brought and wild herbs, the West China City Daily said. They also had one package of salt.

All the workers were in good condition, doctors said after primary exams at Guanghan Airport in Sichuan's capital city Chengdu.

Twelve workers for Mianzhu Hanwang Construction Company were repairing a coal warehouse near Yangjiagou in Qingping Village when the 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck on May 12.

They were not injured, but a landslide blocked the roads and communications were also cut, the report said.

They took some rice and a package of salt and began to hike through the mountains the next morning.

To save food, the 12 men only ate two handfuls of rice per meal. They drank rainwater and dug wild herbs, said the report.

On May 15, after walking for two days, the workers split up as eight people were too exhausted to continue.

"I could no longer walk," the 68-year-old Tang Yougui told the newspaper. "So I told the young people to leave me and continue their journey to find help."

Four young, strong men split off from the others, leaving them in the Pingshuihe area of the mountain awaiting rescue, the report said.

On May 20, eight days after the quake, the four met a rescue team dispatched by their company. They reported to the city's relief headquarters, which dispatched a team to find the missing eight men.

On May 25, rescuers reached Pingshuihe via helicopter, but found only a note saying that they had gone back to their work shed at Yangjiagou on May 21, the report said.

At 8 am yesterday, a helicopter found the eight workers in Yangjiagou.

The Sichuan earthquake has killed at least 68,000 people and 20,000 others are listed as missing, Xinhua has reported.

(Shanghai Daily May 29, 2008)