Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered the armed forces and civil aviation department to deploy 90 more helicopters for rescue missions.

Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered the armed forces and civil aviation department to deploy 90 more helicopters for rescue missions.

The premier made the call Wednesday evening at the national quake relief headquarters on a train out of Chengdu, bound for Guangyuan city. The air force will deploy 60 more helicopters and the civil aviation industry will provide the other 30.

The meeting also decided to mobilize 30,000 more troops, raising the total number of PLA soldiers and armed police involved in the rescue work to 100,000.

Throughout Wednesday, just under 18,300 injured people were rescued in Sichuan, bringing the total number to about 64,700. 1,620 of them are seriously injured.

(CCTV May 16, 2008)