Search for survivors after quake kills 19

Rescuers were last night searching for survivors of a powerful earthquake which killed at least 19 people and injured 247 in a mountainousregionpopular with tourists in southwest China.

Tuesday night’s magnitude 6.5 quake also knocked out power and telephone networks, complicating efforts to find and evacuate survivors.

State broadcaster China Central Television showed footage of rescuers finding one body.

They used detectors to search for survivors through the night, carrying a girl to safety and leading other people along a rubble-strewn road.

President Xi Jinping called for rapid efforts to respond to the disaster, which struck a quake-prone region bordered by Sichuan and Gansu provinces.