More than 50,000 people may have been killed in the devastating Sichuan earthquake, the Chinese government has warned.

At least 19,500 people have died so far following Monday's 7.9 magnitude earthquake, according to revised figures.

The official Xinhua news agency says an extra 30,000 extra troops have been deployed to Sichuan to help the 50,000 already involved in rescue efforts.

Around 10 million people across the Sichuan province have been directly affected by the earthquake, Xinhua claims.

The death toll is likely to surge as rescue workers dig more victims out of collapsed buildings.

A large number of children have been killed by the earthquake, charity Save the Children in China has reported.

Zhang Hong, director of support services for Save the Children in China, said: "Children suffered hugely from the impact of this quake when it struck mid-afternoon while they were gathered in schools.

Zhang Hong, director of support services for Save the Children in China: "Children suffered hugely from the impact of this quake when it struck mid-afternoon while they were gathered in schools."

"Old and weak buildings also mean that the students affected are spread over an extremely large area.

"It's terrible to watch as school after school is reported collapsed and to see children being rescued from under the rubble.

"The panic amongst the children as the quake struck caused stampedes in schools as they were evacuated by their teachers."

About 160 kilometres north east from the epicentre in Beichuan county, 100 students and teachers are reported dead or missing in a secondary school.

In a neighbouring city to the epicentre, Dujiangyan, 900 children are still feared buried in the quake.

In the same area, 420 pupils of Xianghe Middle School were buried when their school collapsed, with 370 of these pupils already confirmed dead.

Another 81 students are confirmed dead in Shifang city, with 920 students from the school still buried.

And in a school 30 kilometers from the epicentre, 200 pupils were also trapped by the rubble when their school toppled.

In Deyang and Aba Prefecture, several schools have collapsed though numbers of confirmed dead are not yet being reported.

Meanwhile, in Chongqing's outer Liangping County, more than five students were killed and 100 were injured when two schools collapsed.

The Chinese government says it will accept foreign aid and has even agreed to help from its arch political rival Taiwan.

China's Sichuan province is one of the country’s most populated and poorest regions.

The article China earthquake toll could reach 50,000 originally appeared on 999 Today