More Chinese rescue volunteers rush to Myanmar in quake response

KUNMING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Yunnan branch of the Blue Sky Rescue, a Chinese civil relief squad, dispatched two additional groups, totaling 20 volunteers, to neighboring Myanmar on Tuesday to form a 44-member task force aiding earthquake relief operations.

The two teams, both departing from an airport in the city of Mangshi, southwest China's Yunnan Province, will arrive in Myanmar on Tuesday afternoon, and are equipped with life detectors and demolition tools, according to Zhu Minyun, head of the Yunnan branch.

The first team of the branch, sent from Yunnan's Ruili, entered Myanmar on Saturday.

The death toll from Friday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar has risen to 2,056, with around 3,900 people injured and nearly 270 reported missing, according to official data on Monday.