Authorities in China say a 7.9 magnitude earthquake which struck the central part of the country Monday has killed at least 12,000 people, a figure that is expected to rise as rescuers continue to sift through the rubble.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the death toll exceeded 12,000 in Sichuan province alone, and 18,645 were still buried in debris in the city of Mianyang, which is near the quake's epicenter.

Meanwhile, the Sichuan Daily newspaper said on its Web site more than 26,000 people have been injured.

Though hope of rescuing a vast majority of those still buried is vanishing, the government sounded a note of optimism Tuesday.

"Survivors can hold on for some time. Now it's not time to give up," Wang Zhenyao, disaster relief division director at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, told reporters in Beijing.

The quake was the largest in China since 1976, and the deadliest since the mid-1920s.

© 2008 Newsroom.