Russia will send a plane with rescuers and humanitarian aid to China where a devastating earthquake has claimed more than 10,000 lives in the southwest region, Russian media reported Tuesday.

"The Russian Emergencies Ministry is preparing a plane with rescuers and humanitarian aid for China," Interfax news agency cited a spokesperson of the ministry as saying.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sent a message of solace to Chinese President Hu Jintao over the disastrous earthquake and offered humanitarian aid.

The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale, rocked southwest China Monday afternoon.

As of 2:00 PM on Tuesday (0600 GMT), the death toll from the earthquake had climbed to 11,921, according to the ad hoc headquarters of the disaster relief. Of the dead, 11,608 were in Sichuan.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)