China sends more relief equipment, staff to Nepal

BEIJING -- The Chinese army will send more medical equipment and a team of senior medics to quake-hit Nepal, the military said in a statement on Monday.

Two mobile hospitals with surgical, X-ray, ultrasound and sterilizing equipment are already en route to Nepal from Zham, a border pass connecting Nepal with China's Tibet, the statement said.

Once the equipment has arrived, the team will be dispatched to Nepal to provide technical support and help train local medical staff.

The combined death toll of two earthquakes that struck Nepal on April 25 and May 12 has topped 9,000, with some 20,000 others injured.

Earlier reports said the Chinese government and military had mobilized more than 40 helicopters and airplanes to deliver 650 tons of tents, generators, water purification facilities, blankets and other emergency supplies to Nepal.