ON THE way to Wenchuan, a Xinhua reporter encountered five men who escaped the disaster. Mr Tan Bin, 56, a resident in the Shuimo township of Wenchuan, said they had walked more than 50km from Wenchuan. He said:

'When the quake happened, we couldn't stand straight, and we held each other's hands and ran out of our factory. The five men's clothes were wet, dirty and they all had bruises.

'The quake seemed to have turned our town upside down, all the bridges and tunnels were destroyed.

'We walked along the river, but there were rocks falling.

'We nearly lost hope on our way, but about 10km to Dujiangyan, my cellphone got a weak signal. The first text message was a weather forecast for Dujiangyan, and we all felt hope again.'

XINHUA