MOSCOW, May 25 (RIA Novosti) - A sixth Russian Emergencies Ministry plane carrying 30 tons of humanitarian aid for quake-stricken southwest China took off on Sunday from an airfield near Moscow, a ministry spokesman said.
"An Il-76 transport plane departed at 11.10 a.m. Moscow time [07.10 GMT] for China," the official said. "Relief supplies include tents and blankets."
The May 12 quake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, was the worst to hit the country in more than three decades, and affected eight provinces, with Sichuan suffering the bulk of the devastation. Around 80% of buildings have been destroyed in some areas.
China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said on Saturday that the death toll from the earthquake in China's Sichuan province had risen to more than 60,000 and might hit 80,000 as most of the missing were presumed dead.
