A source with the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed to Xinhua that a Russian medical team has arrived Tuesday morning in Chengdu, capital city of the worst-hit Chinese province of Sichuan.

According to the source, the team also brought with it a mobile hospital, transportation vehicles and other relief materials. Another 36-tonnes of humanitarian assistance materials will arrive in the city on Tuesday afternoon including medicines weighing 7 tonnes.

China has agreed that foreign medical teams could come to China to help relief work.

"Considering the need of the current relief work, China Red Cross is authorized to accept medical teams from foreign countries to come to assist medical and treatment work," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Monday.

According to Yang Huixin, spokesman of the Red Cross Society of China, medical teams from Germany, Japan, Italy and Russia have been accepted.

(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2008)