Lightening candles are placed as the shape of May 12 when the 7.8 magnitudeearthquake happened in southeast China's Sichuan Province, during a donation activity for the relief in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, May 15, 2008.

(Xinhua 2008-05-16 18:02:30)The death toll from the earthquake in Sichuan Province has exceeded 21,500 while 14,000 others remained buried as of 4 p.m. on Friday, the Sichuan provincial government said.

Vice Governor of Sichuan Li Chengyun said at a press conference that 159,000 people were injured in Monday's massiveearthquake and 4.8 million people were relocated.

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