Hundreds of troops had trekked into three isolated towns in Sichuan Province hit by Monday's strong quake and began rescue and relief work on Thursday, rescue headquarters said.

Ninety People's Liberation Army soldiers entered Qingping Town on Wednesday and they had started rescue efforts, said the Mianzhu Disaster Relief Headquarters. Mianzhu City was an area worst-hit by the 7.8 magnitude quake whose epicenter was in Wenchuan County.

On Thursday, another 50 soldiers trekked into Qingping and Tianchi towns, with packaged relief materials and medicine.

About 700 soldiers had also started rescue work in Jinhua Town, the headquarters said.

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, the quake toll in Mianzhu had reached 4,250. More than 20,000 were injured. The confirmed death toll in Sichuan was 19,509 by 4:00 PM on Thursday. More than 50,000 people are feared dead in Sichuan alone, the rescue headquarters of the State Council said Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2008)