Mianyang, China — Survivors of the Sichuan earthquake told yesterday how they clung to life for days trapped in the rubble as they waited for rescuers to reach them.

Their stories emerged as the official number of dead rose dramatically, to more than 40,000, as relief workers reached remote hillside villages cut off by landslides. The Chinese authorities also said that about 30,000 people were missing and nearly 250,000 people had been injured.

One of the most remarkable escapes was recounted from the crowded hospital wards in Mianyang central hospital.

A couple, both doctors, were buried under 30 feet of debris in their flat. The wife was rescued after three days, but instead of going to hospital she waited, shouting encouragement to her husband so he would not give up hope that help was at hand.

He was finally freed on Sunday, after six days with his leg trapped under bricks and mortar in what was once his kitchen.

The wife, Dr. Xie Shouju, who worked in the maternity department of Beichuan county hospital, was said to be virtually unharmed by her ordeal. Her husband, Tang Xiong, 33, from the internal medicine department, was said to be “very weak” but to have no major injuries.

An orthopedic surgeon, Tian Yun, said Dr. Tang was saved by his medical knowledge and his wife. He knew to keep calm, to conserve energy, and to sleep, which he was able to do knowing that he did not need to shout for help because his wife was calling updates on the rescue to him.

“He knew his wife was outside,” Dr. Tian said. “He knew his wife needed him and he needed his wife. He wanted to survive.”

When he was finally brought out, he was able to express his greatest wishes to his rescuers: to join the Communist Party and to have a child.

At West China Hospital, in the provincial capital Chengdu, wards and corridors were packed to overflowing. More patients were being assessed in a tent in the forecourt after being transferred from hospitals across the region, including two women aged 102 and 90.

Liu Rui, 34, described how he joked with two colleagues for two and a half days under a collapsed block at the coalmine where they worked.

“My left side and arm were pinned under a steel pipe, and my legs under another one,” he said. “It didn’t seem that painful, but after they brought me here they had to amputate both legs to stop gangrene spreading.”

One of his workmates, Liu Zigui, was lying on top of him.

Rescue workers were able to drip water and milk into the gap on a stick and straw. “We were able to crack jokes,” said Mr Liu. “Because Liu Zigui was on top, he said he was going out now and would wait for me outside.

“I said not to wait, I would just hang around here, I’d had four bottles of milk. He died, though, when they got him out. He had internal injuries.”