They risked their lives to pull out nine people trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings and guided many others to safety, but that is not the count they keep. 

For members of the Chinese teams that assisted in rescue and relief efforts in Myanmar, after a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the Southeast Asian country on March 28, it is the number of people they could not save, despite doing their best, that matters more.

As 54 Chinese rescuers returned as heroes on Sunday from Yangon, the largest city of Myanmar, to Kunming in Southwest China's Yunnan province, after a week of demonstrating extraordinary courage and endurance, their hearts still bleed for the victims of the quake.

Chen Ying, a member of the Chinese Red Cross International Emergency Response Team, said her deepest regret was not being able to save a person trapped under the rubble of a building, because an excavator needed for the rescue could not reach the site on time.

Chen was among the 17 Chinese Red Cross rescuers who arrived in Yangon on March 30. They engaged in search and rescue operations and provided medical aid and emotional support for earthquake survivors in Mandalay, the second-largest city in Myanmar.

"In this rescue mission, the most heartbreaking and regretful moment for me was at location 107. We went there three times, and had all our supplies ready. The team was determined to save one of the three individuals trapped under the building, because there were definite signs of life," she said.

Unfortunately, the Chinese rescuers failed to receive heavy equipment support on time, and it was too late by the time they did. "We felt a surge of pain when the body was brought out. It is a regret we will have to live with," she added.

Besides the Chinese Red Cross team, a 37-member rescue and medical team from Yunnan also returned on Sunday. It was the first international rescue team to arrive in Myanmar within 18 hours of the earthquake. The team carried out rescue operations and actively assisted Myanmar in developing infectious disease prevention plans in the quake-hit areas.

Both teams were warmly welcomed upon their arrival in Kunming on Sunday afternoon. While the flight crew paid a special tribute to the heroes in a cabin broadcast, local people greeted them with rounds of applause. 

In addition to these two teams, Chinese civil squads such as the Blue Sky Rescue Team — the largest nongovernmental humanitarian organization in China — played a key role in rescue and relief efforts in Myanmar. 

"Our team members from across China volunteered to join the rescue operations. ... They arrived in Myanmar from places such as Beijing, Tianjin and Jiangsu province at their own expense," said Xu Jingxia, a member of the Blue Sky Rescue Team.

"We carried out the first round of search and rescue within the critical 72 hours, and continued for another two to three days under the scorching 40 C temperature," Xu said, adding that the whole team returned from Myanmar on Monday.

Myanmar's State Administration Council Chairman Min Aung Hlaing, who visited the camp of Chinese rescue teams in Mandalay on Sunday, said the prompt arrival of rescuers from China exemplified the profound fraternal friendship between the two countries.

Chinese rescue teams have extensive experience in cross-border search and rescue operations, and Myanmar looks forward to strengthening communication with China to expand cooperation in emergency response, disaster prevention and mitigation efforts, he added.

Contact the writers at [email protected]