Firefighter holding baby tugs heartstrings online

The photo of a 20-year-old firefighter tenderly holding a 2-month-old baby in his arms has touched the hearts of people bombarded with scenes of destruction in the wake of the magnitude-6.8 earthquake in Luding county in the Garze Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province.

The death toll from the earthquake on Monday had risen to 86 by Thursday. Thirty-five people remained missing and more than 400 were injured, according to the Sichuan provincial government information office.

At around 5 pm on Tuesday, Zhang Zili, a firefighter from the Wenchuan Brigade of the Forest Fire Fighting Detachment of Sichuan's Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture, and brigade members were involved in a search and rescue operation in Wandong village, Detuo town in Luding.