BEIJING - A MAN entombed in the rubble of his office for eight days following China's devastating quake was pulled to safety early Tuesday after being kept alive with sweetened water fed to him through a straw.

Rescuers battled for 30 hours to rescue Ma Yuanjiang, an executive at a power plant, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The 31-year-old was finally freed at 12.50 am on Tuesday (1650 GMT) after the team chiselled through 10 slabs of cement, opening up a tunnel, it said.

Mr Ma was surprisingly able to speak and eat and drink small amounts after spending 179 hours under the rubble of the office section of the power plant, Xinhua said.

He was discovered alive on Sunday as rescuers dug a hole and saved one of his colleagues, who could be pulled out only after amputation, Xinhua said.

Mr Ma had been buried on the second floor of the plant's office section.

It is the latest in a string of 'miracle' rescues that have captivated the nation but the positive outcome contrasts with the misery of desperate relatives.

Rescuers and people whose family members are missing are still clinging to fading hopes, said Xinhua.

Messages that read 'searching for missing families' are proliferating on government websites, TV screens and online chatrooms.

Last week's quake in Sichuan province has killed or left missing at least 71,000 people, according to the government.

Mr Ma had been in a meeting when the earthquake flattened the power plant in Wenchuan county, close to the epicentre of the quake, 8.0-magnitude on the Richter scale, the report said.

More than 100 rescuers were involved in the operation to save Mr Ma, digging inch by inch with hammers and shovels, Xinhua said.

Mr Ma, the vice director of the power generation department at the Yingxiu Bay Hydropower plant, was taken to a hospital in Chongquing said Xinhua, adding that he asked for water during the trip.

100,000 still buried
More than 10,000 people are still believed to be buried under the debris of flattened buildings in Sichuan, according to provincial authorities, but hopes of finding survivors are rapidly running out.

Rescuers pulled out at least three people alive from the rubble on Sunday, although one of them later died.

Experts warn that the chances of survival in earthquake rubble decrease greatly after three days.

As residents search frantically for signs of missing relatives, Chinese authorities said they were taking photos of bodies before removing them.

For health reasons the bodies were being buried but police were keeping a database of DNA and photos, Xinhua said.

'Some people may never have a chance to see the bodies of their families and we hope it'll be a comfort to them if they could see their last photos,'

Tang Yanfeng, a brigadier involved in rescue efforts, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.