The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) decided on Thursday to adjust the route of the Olympic torch relay because of the May 12 earthquake.

The relay in the quake-hit Sichuan Province, which was scheduled between June 15 and 18, was postponed to August 3 to 5 before the torch is taken to Beijing, officials with the BOCOG said. Adjustments will also be made in future legs of the relay route.

The relay was suspended for three days between May 19 and 21 in a national mourning period after the earthquake. It was resumed in Ningbo City of east China's Zhejiang Province on Thursday.

The 8.0-magnitude earthquake, the strongest in decades, has claimed 41,353 lives as of noon on Wednesday, according to the Information Office of the State Council.

The BOCOG said in a statement on its website that "the relay will be closely related with the disaster relief work". A minute's silence will be observed before the relay starts at every leg to mourn the victims. Donation boxes are put along the relay route.

Chinese netizens have proposed that surviving children of the earthquake light the Olympic cauldron, the Beijing News reported, while others countered that it may only add to their grief. The BOCOG officials said they have yet to decide on who will light the flame at the opening ceremony or whether to mourn the quake dead at the occasion, the report said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2008)