Quake rescue resumes after panic over flood fears

Rescue
efforts are resuming in Beichuan in China, after the entire city was
evacuated amid fears that it could be engulfed by a river bursting its
banks.

The city was reduced to ruins by Monday's earthquake, but efforts are still going on to find and dig survivors from the rubble.

But the search was halted on Saturday as rumours of a flood saw a stampede of people fleeing to higher ground.

Beichuan is near the epicentre of the quake believed to have killed 50,000.

China has started to evacuate more than 2,000 people on fears of floods stretching for 40 kilometres (25 miles) in the wake of a deadly earthquake, state media said Saturday.

Monday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake set off landslides that clogged the Qingzhu river, creating a body of water in Sichuan province that is already overflowing into a nearby village, Xinhua news agency said.

The quake weakened the soil in the area of Hongyuang township and if the water level rises by several metres, an area stretching at least 40 kilometres would be inundated, it said.

Authorities have started to evacuate more than 2,000 people, some of whom were staying in makeshift shelters after the earthquake, Xinhua said.

Experts were also considering setting off an explosion to divert the water, it said.

Soldiers carried older people out of Beichuan town — one of the areas hit hardest by the magnitude 7.9 quake Monday — while survivors cradled babies on a road jammed with vehicles and people. The death toll jumped to near 29,000.

A policeman told The Associated Press that rescue officials were worried that water from the choked river would inundate the town.

"The river was jammed up by a landslide, now that may burst. That is what we are worried about," the policeman said as he hurried by, not giving his name.

"I'm very scared. I heard that the water will be crashing down here," said Liang Xiao, one of the people fleeing. "If that happens, there will be over 10 yards of water over our heads."

The official Xinhua News Agency said earlier that a lake in Beichuan county "may burst its bank at any time," without giving details on why the water was rising. Residents left homes for higher ground, but 46 seriously injured were still at risk, the agency said.

The confirmed death toll rose Saturday to 28,881, Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said. The government has previously said at least 50,000 people were believed killed in the disaster.

The BBC's Paul Danahar in Beichuan says there was a stampede as thousands of people fled to higher ground.

The whole city has been evacuated, forcing the suspension of all rescue efforts, our correspondent says.

Beichuan is close to the epicentre of Monday's devastating quake in which it is feared about 50,000 people died.