Nearly 900 students in southwest China's Sichuan Province were feared buried when a high school building collapsed here in an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale on Monday afternoon.

At least four third-graders -- two boys and two girls -- were confirmed dead at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City, about 100 kilometers from the epicenter in Wenchuan County, parents and witnesses said.

Xinhua reporters saw a three-story school building had partially collapsed. Some buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins while others were crying out for help.

Grieved parents watched as five cranes were excavating at the site and an ambulance was waiting.

A tearful mother said his son, third-grader Zhang Chengwei, was buried in the ruins.

Two girls said they escaped because they had "run faster than others."

"It was around 2:30 PM, and the building suddenly began to rock back and forth," one of them recalled.

A villager said the school had 18 classes, all second and third graders, with about 50 students in each class.

"We ran out of the house when the quake hit," said Gao Shangyuan, a villager who lived close to school and helped with the rescue work.

Gao and other villagers helped dozens of students out of the ruins. "Some had jumped out of the window and a few others ran down the stairs that did not collapse."

The quake, felt in most parts of China, has killed 107 nationwide, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs by 6:00 PM.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)