(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-14 00:26

CHENGDU  -- Hundreds of soldiers entered the southwest China earthquake epicenter on Tuesday and have pulled more than 1,000 people from debris, according to the disaster relief headquarters  of the Chengdu Military Area Command.

Xia Guofu, Sichuan provincial military commander, led a team of more than 300 soldiers into Wenchuan county, Sichuan Province, and more troops were expected imminently, said Ye Wanyong, political commissar of the command.

On Monday, rescuers were stranded outside Wenchuan as roads were blocked by boulders and rocks following the earthquake.

The quake death toll in Wenchuan is still unavailable.

On the way to Wenchuan, a Xinhua reporter encountered five men who escaped the disaster. Tan Bin, 56, a resident in the Shuimo Township of Wenchuan, said they had walked more than 50 kilometers from Wenchuan.

"When the quake happened, we couldn't stand straight, and we held each other's hands and ran out of our factory," he said. 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," Tan said.

"We walked along the river, but there were rocks falling,"

"We nearly lost hope on our way, but about 10 kilometers to Dujiangyan, my cell phone got a weak signal. The first text message was a weather forecast for Dujiangyan, and we all felt hope again," he said.

Rescuers who arrived at Yingxiu Town of Wenchuan on foot on Tuesday afternoon said the town was inaccessible by road.

The soldiers reported more than 70 percent of the roads in the town damaged, and almost all bridges had collapsed. Many people were believed to be under the debris.

They said 3,000 people of the town's total population of 12,000 were known to have survived. No detailed information on the casualties was available.

Li Shiming, commander of the Chengdu Military Area Command, said the soldiers had distributed food and water to children and injured people in the town, and more supplies would be airdropped into the area.

The massive earthquake has left more than 12,000 people dead in Sichuan Province alone, and thousands more are still under debris, said Vice Governor of Sichuan Li Chengyun.