Twenty-seven of all the 34 quake lakes in southwest China's Sichuan Province were no longer dangerous, said the provincial department of water resources on Wednesday.

The news comes after emergency workers succeeded in downgrading danger levels of six lakes, five to low level and one to medium level.

Officials claimed a "decisive victory" in the drainage of the main quake lake Tangjiashan last week, when about half of the quake's water have been discharged and the number of people under threat drastically dropped.

The seven remaining dangerous quake lakes are under close watch by emergency workers.

The lakes were formed by quake-triggered landslides, posing flooding threat for people living downstream. The Tangjiashan lake alone put 1.3 million at risk before the drainage efforts.

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2008)