By Ben Blanchard

CHONGQING, China (Reuters) – China’s most devastating earthquake in three decades killed nearly 9,000 people on Monday, with the toll likely to soar as authorities struggle to reach casualties in large areas cut off from relief.

The earthquake that hit China’s southwestern province of Sichuan killed 8,533 people, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday, citing the provincial government.

The epicenter of the 7.8 magnitude quake was in a mountainous region about 100 km from Sichuan’s capital Chengdu, a bustling city of 10 million.

“The road started swaying as I was driving. Rocks fell from the mountains, with dust darkening the sky over the valley,” a driver for Sichuan’s seismological bureau was quoted by Xinhua as saying, as he was driving near the epicenter.

The quake hit in the middle of the school day, toppling eight schools in the region. Chemical plants and at least one hospital were also flattened, trapping many hundreds, state media said.

About 900 teenagers were buried in the rubble of a collapsed three-storey school building in the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan.

Local villagers had already helped dozens of students out of the ruins and five cranes were excavating the site as anxious parents looked on, Xinhua said.

“Some buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins while others were crying out for help,” the agency said.  Continued…