Nearly 10 thousand soldiers are still searching for a crashed military transport helicopter engaging in earthquake relief work in the town of Yingxiu, in southwestern China's Sichuan Province.

The search is progressing slowly, since the crash site was among canyons surrounded by thick forests.

Yang Lei, a military official with the Air Force, says the colors of the helicopter also impedes the search.

''The helicopter has mixed colors similar to those in the environment here, so it's hard to see.''

Liu Fafeng is with Jinan Military Command in East China's Shandong Province. Thousands of their soldiers are in Sichuan now to help with the search.

''Since the crash, we have sent more than 4,000 soldiers here to search for them. The soldiers are divided into groups, with each group taking charge of a piece of the area. We formed a net covering area here so we wouldn't miss a single point.''

The helicopter encountered strong turbulence and crashed on Saturday afternoon with 19 people on board.