Army praised as China mourns victims

China declared three days of national mourning for victims of the Sichuan earthquake and suspended the Olympic torch relay as the nation's most famous rescuer said the search for survivors would go on.

"My soldiers are right now rescuing people. Every day we are pulling people out," said Wang Yi, commander of Unit 8740 of the People's Armed Police Force. "We are very far from the rebuilding process. Our priority is still saving lives."

Mr Wang led 670 officers to the town of Wenchuan, at the quake epicentre, after hiking for 21 hours in driving rain, and has featured prominently in media coverage of the rescue efforts. His soldiers have rescued 407 people and evacuated 3,700 to safety from Wenchuan. "I am an ordinary soldier, that's all," Mr Wang said. "We rescued many people from the debris in Wenchuan. The villages were the most affected, the city itself was less damaged. Some of the villages were completely flattened."

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The People's Liberation Army has been praised for getting survivors out and helping with relief work. The army is popular in China, and its commanding presence in organising aid has raised its status even higher.

The government raised the confirmed death toll yesterday to 32,476, with another 220,109 people injured. There are still believed to be 9,500 buried in Sichuan, and the final death toll is expected to exceed 50,000.

Footage of Mr Wang rescuing a small boy in the ruins of Wenchuan has warmed hearts in a country reeling from its worst natural disaster in 30 years. People are still being dragged alive from the ruins. One man trapped in a collapsed hospital survived with "slight bruising" after 139 hours under rubble, and a woman was freed after six days trapped under a flattened power plant in the town of Yingxiu, although her legs had to be amputated to free her.

Relatives were still hoping for signs of life in Beichuan, a town close to the quake epicentre that was almost totally flattened, but mostly the soldiers were finding bodies. The focus of relief work has now turned to isolated communities. Speaking during a visit to the city of Shifang, President Hu Jintao asked rescuers to use "every available means" to reach every village hit by the quake.

Foreign rescue teams have also been working in the earthquake zone. Takashi Koizumi, head of a Japanese team in Qingchuan, where the death toll is approaching 1,900, said: "Now the chances of survival are very slim but there are cases of people surviving this long before, so we won't give up."

China's State Council called for three days of mourning to begin exactly one week after the earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.9. It will start with three minutes of silence at 2.28pm today. Organisers of the Beijing Olympics said the torch relay would also be suspended for three days.

There were complaints when the relay continued last week, albeit on a more sombre note. Runners turned the relay into an emotional occasion, starting with a minute's silence and asking for donations.

The torch is due in Sichuan province next month.