Tan Bin breathed a sigh of relief yesterday afternoon when he heard a beep from his mobile phone indicating an incoming text message.

The message was a weather forecast for the city of Dujiangyan.

The moment Tan saw it the 56-year-old man realized that, after walking for about 24 hours, he and four of his colleagues had finally managed to reach Dujiangyan from Wenchuan, the epicenter of Monday's earthquake.

When Tan appeared before reporters, his clothes were soaking wet, his shoes were caked with mud and the wounds on his legs were still bleeding, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Tan works for a factory in the town of Shuimo, 50 km from the center of Wenchuan.

When he was working on Monday afternoon, Tan said he suddenly felt the ground was shaking.

"At first, the ground was swaying and then it started to shake," Tan was quoted as saying.

"All of my fellow colleagues were trying to run out of the workshop, but we could hardly stand. We crawled out to the yard but many of us were still hit by falling masonry."

"Then I realized that it was a big earthquake," he said. "In just one minute, a town was ruined. Almost all the buildings had collapsed and many people were buried under debris."

Tan said there was no electricity, water or telecommunications in Shuimo.

"So I decided with my colleagues to walk out of the 'place of death' at about 5 pm."

Tan's factory was only 40 km from Dujiangyan and it usually takes less than one hour to drive there. But the quake had destroyed bridges and roads, and caused many landslides, Tan said.

"It was very difficult on the way. What is worse, huge rocks continually fell because of aftershocks, and seriously wounded my knee," he was quoted as saying.

"I could hardly remember how many times I fell down, slipped, or was hit by small rocks,

"But nothing is more horrible than losing contact with the outside," Tan said.

After about one day's journey, Tan's silent mobile phone sounded its first beep. Then he saw rescue troops.

"We were all relieved to see the rescuers," Tan was quoted as saying. He said he would rush to Deyang, a nearby city, to reunite with family.

"It's good to be alive," he said.

(China Daily May 14, 2008)