SICHUAN PROVINCE, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russian rescue workers in China's Sichuan province have called off their search for survivors buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings following the devastating earthquake that hit southwest China on Monday.

"We will turn now to clearing away the rubble, removing corpses, and a clean-up of the area," said the head of the team from the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

The search was called off due to the fact that it is extremely unlikely that anyone will be found alive under the collapsed buildings. Thousands of people were earlier pulled out alive, but the chances of finding survivors have become slimmer with every passing day.

The quake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, affected eight provinces, with Sichuan suffering the bulk of the devastation. Chinese officials announced on Saturday that almost 29,000 people had been killed in the disaster. The death toll is expected to rise.

"All the residents of the quake-hit cities are deeply touched by the fact that our northern neighbors came to assist us in the relief effort," a local police officer told RIA Novosti.