Torchbearers mourn quake victims

The Olympic flame travelled to the Jinggang Mountains in Jiangxi on Thursday. Relay organizers and torch bearers turned their thoughts to the victims of Monday's deadly earthquake in southwest China.

Relay organizers and torch bearers turned their thoughts to the victims  of Monday's deadly earthquake in southwest China.

At 8:00, everyone present at the opening ceremony of the Jinggang Mountains relay observed a minute of silence out of respect for those killed in Monday's earthquake.

Donation boxes were placed along the 14.5-kilometer route to collect funds for the quake-stricken areas.

Zhou Hechun, a coach in the city's junior sports school was the torchbearer who got the Jinggang Mountain leg underway. Some 208 torch bearers then carried the flame around the city, covering 15 kilometers.

Torchbearer, said, "I hope the Olympic torch can deliver a message of unity, love, courage and confidence to the disaster areas. Let's work."

Torchbearer, said, " I hope people in the disaster areas can pull themselves together, and recover quickly. People in the whole nation support them!"

Torchbearer, said, "All of our torchbearers have donated money to the disaster areas. We will continue to collect funds and donations after the torch relay. We will do everything possible to help those quake sufferers."