Forty half-starved earthquake survivors have been rescued from a remote area in southwestern China a full 16 days after the disaster, state press reported on Thursday.

They were flown out by helicopter on Wednesday from the quake-shattered village of Yangjiagou in Sichuan province, the West China Metropolitan Daily said.

The survivors had been prevented from escaping by landslides triggered by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12, which had blocked roads in the rugged region, it said.

The village is 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the nearest town.

The survivors, who included local villagers and a group of mining company workers, were flown to a nearby temporary camp for earthquake survivors.

The earthquake has claimed 68,109 lives with another 19,851 people missing, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.