Up to several thousand people were killed in the earthquake that hit China's south-western Sichuan province, the official Xinhua news agency says, citing the central government. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed in Beichuan county of mountainous Sichuan province alone after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region during early afternoon on Monday (May 12). As many as 10,000 in Beichuan county were feared injured and 80 percent of the buildings there had been destroyed, the report said. Beichuan's population is 161,000, meaning about one in 10 residents were killed or injured in the quake. The county is a part of Mianyang city, and about 160 km (100 miles) from the provincial capital, Chengdu. The death toll was expected to rise sharply as authorities and rescue teams made contact with the worst-hit areas of Sichuan, where phone lines have been cut off since the quake struck. The quake had toppled at least eight schools and left hundreds of students and teachers...