At least 12 people have died and 135 have been injured after an earthquake struck south-west China.
Rescue efforts are underway in the country’s Sichuan province after the 6.0 magnitude tremor hit late on Monday night.
More than 4,400 people have been evacuated after 73 houses collapsed in the quake, which was followed by several powerful aftershocks.
At least eight people were rescued from the rubble after hundreds of firefighters arrived in the area early on Tuesday morning, the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management said.
China Central Television (CCT) footage shows soldiers using a chainsaw to cut through a wooden door and rescue a couple trapped beneath a fallen kitchen wall.
Most of the deaths were caused by damage to houses, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The hardest-hit area was reported to be Changning country, in the south-east of the province, where a hospital was forced to evacuate all of its patients due to building damage.
A major highway and sections of other roads were also closed following landslides sparked by the tremor.
More than 500 firefighters have been sent to the area and rescue teams are bringing in 5,000 tents, 10,000 folding cots and other supplies, authorities have reported.
It is not the first time Sichuan has been hit by a serious earthquake.
In 2008 more than 87,000 people were killed in a 7.9 magnitude tremor 80km north-west of Chengdu.
In 2017 a 7.0-magnitude quake killed more than 20 people also north of Chengdu.
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