The death toll has climbed to 8,767 in the quake-hit Mianyang City in southwest China's Sichuan Province, and 59,616 people were injured, local authorities said Friday.

About 4.1 million residents in Mianyang City were affected by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Sichuan's Wenchuan County on Monday afternoon.

Rescuers have pulled 21,125 people alive out of the debris during the past four days, the disaster relief headquarters said.

Mianyang, a city of 5.2 million people, is one of the worst quake-hit regions.

The death toll from Monday's earthquake in Sichuan alone has exceeded 21,500 while 14,000 others remained buried as of 4 p.m. Friday, vice provincial governor Li Chengyun said at a press conference.

He said that 159,000 people were injured in Monday's massive earthquake and 4.8 million people had been relocated.

Friday's death toll rose by about 2,000 from that of Thursday.

Sichuan had experienced 4,432 aftershocks in the past four days, Li said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2008)