BEIJING – Chinese state media say 22 rescuers who helped victims of May's devastating earthquake have been chosen as torchbearers for the Olympic torch.

The official Xinhua News Agency says soldiers, firefighters and civil servants will carry the Olympic torch as it passes through central Henan province on Friday.

“The rescuers were newly made torchbearers because of the courageous feat they performed in the earthquake relief,” Xinhua reports.

The torchbearers will carry the flame through Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang and Anyang cities in Henan.

The torch on August 3-5 will head to Sichuan province, the site of the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that left nearly 70,000 dead, another 18,000 missing and more than 5 million homeless.