Special report: Strong Earthquake Jolts SW China 　

    MOSCOW, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Russian rescuers have flown to quake-hit China to take part in search and rescue operations, local media reported on Friday.

    An Il-76 transport aircraft overnight flew out from the Ramenskoye airfield, near Moscow, to the city of Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province that was most severely hit by the disaster on Monday, Itar-Tass quoted the Russian Emergencies Ministry's information department as saying.

    On board are 49 Russian specialists -- an operational group of four people of the Emergency Ministry, three psychologists of the ministry's urgent psychological aid center, including its head Yulia Shoigu, 13 doctors and 29 rescuers of the ministry's Tsentrospas squad.

    Another aircraft is planned to leave for China later in the day to transport 38 doctors from the Emergency Ministry and the Russian disaster medicine center, an airmobile hospital and seven tons of medicines to the quake-stricken region.

    All rescuers headed for China have an experience of working in quake-hit areas and were many times involved in dealing with similar disasters in various parts of the world, the Emergency Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

    A Russian Emergency Ministry aircraft took off from Moscow Tuesday night, carrying 30 tons of humanitarian aid to China, and Russia delivered its second batch of humanitarian aid to the quake-hit areas Wednesday.

    Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sent a message of solace to Chinese President Hu Jintao over the disastrous earthquake.

    More than 50,000 people are feared dead in Sichuan province alone after Monday's 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the rescue headquarters of the State Council said Thursday.

    The confirmed death toll in Sichuan was 19,509 by 4 p.m. (0800 GMT) Thursday, up by 5,046 from Wednesday's 14,463, according to Li Chengyun, vice provincial governor of Sichuan.