The earthquake rescue team from the Republic of Korea (ROK) took a flight from Chengdu, a quake-affected city, at 8:30 AM on Friday to return home via Shanghai.

The ROK rescuers, a team of 41, arrived in quake-torn Sichuan Province in southwest China on May 16, and were assigned with the mission to help the rescue operation in Yinghua Town of Shifang, a hard-hit city.

During their stay in China, the ROK rescuers helped find and pull out the corpses of 26 quake victims.

Before the team left, representatives from the Chinese ministry of Foreign Affairs and Sichuan Provincial Office of Foreign Affairs met and thanked the ROK rescue team for their help, and presented them with a silk banner, a Chinese way to express gratitude.

A powerful earthquake featuring 8.0 magnitude struck Sichuan Province, with Wenchuan as the epicenter, at 2:28 PM on May 12. The quake was also felt throughout China.

The death toll in this powerful earthquake nationwide increased by 9,798 to 51,151 as of 10:00 AM Thursday, according to the Information Office of the State Council. And 288,431 people were injured and 29,328 missing in the quake.

(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2008)