PLA soldiers hailed

China has mobilized more than 130,000 troops for rescue operations, who were desperate to excavate survivors with the passing of the prime time for survivors' rescue -- 72 hours after the quake.

"The PLA soldiers are saviors for us. Without them, my daughter couldn't have survived," said Song Xuanzhong, from Nanchong City of Sichuan.

His daughter Song Yanmei, a young beautician, had been buried in the rubble of a collapsed beauty parlor in Yingxiu Township of Wenchuan County, the epicenter, for almost three days by Thursday afternoon.

It took four hours for a dozen of PLA (People's Liberation Army) soldiers to remove a huge pile of debris almost only by hands and pull Song Yanmei out, the senior Song said.

More than 3,000 PLA soldiers were racing the clock to search for survivors at Yingxiu, a township of about 6,600 people.

Chinese media these days have been paying tribute to the PLA soldiers, who are always the main force in rescue operation when natural disasters hit the country, hailing them as the most loveable persons in the country.

"I know you will come to save me. So I'm not afraid. I have been lying here in peace and waiting for you," a little girl buried deep in the debris told a group of soldiers who came to rescue her, as a CCTV (China Central Television) news footage showed on Thursday.