Society

19 mainland tourists missing as typhoon hits Taiwan

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-23 07:48

A motorcyclist walks through floodwater after Typhoon Megi hit Ilan county in northern Taiwan on Friday, Oct 22, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

GUANGZHOU - Helicopters searched on Friday for a missing bus carrying 19 mainland tourists that was traveling along a Taiwan highway hit by massive rockslides triggered by a powerful typhoon, Taiwan authorities said.

Typhoon Megi, which killed 26 people and wreaked havoc in the northern Philippines earlier this week, dumped a record 1.14 meters of rain in northeastern Taiwan as it made its way toward the Chinese mainland's southeastern coast with winds of 145 km an hour.

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Zhang Jianzhong, spokesman for the mainland's tourism administration, said on Friday that 33 mainland tour groups were trapped on a coastal highway in Ilan county that was hit by rockslides on Thursday night.

At least a mainland tour group leader was dead, and another mainland tourist slightly injured by press time on Friday.

Nineteen mainland tourists from Zhuhai, Guangdong province, are out of contact after their bus was buried by mud and rock at a section of the highway, he said.

Taiwan tourism authorities said more than 290 mainland tourists have either been lifted out of danger or escorted to safety on Friday.

But about 400 tourists, including more than 200 from the Chinese mainland, are still stranded.

Rockslides trapped about 30 vans, buses and cars, officials said. One of the vans was hit by a huge rock, local TV stations reported, but the 16 mainland tourists inside escaped with no major injuries.

Rescuers dug up three bodies, including two nuns, buried under the debris of Bai Yun Temple in Suao, a coastal town in Ilan county, an official at the local fire department said.

"We don't know for sure how many people might be trapped in the temple," he said. "We're still digging."

Flights were disrupted, ferry services cut and at least 160,000 people have been evacuated in the region as Megi headed on Friday for the southern Chinese mainland.

The China Meteorological Administration said on its website that Megi is expected to land in Huilai, Guangdong province and Xiamen, Fujian province on Saturday.

The National Meteorological Center issued a red alert, the highest of a four-level warning system, on early Friday forecasting the typhoon's arrival.

The State Oceanic Administration issued a red storm surge warning, the national top alarming level, saying Megi could cause a "50-year storm surge" if it landed as a severe typhoon, causing waters to exceed the danger levels and tens of thousands of fishing boats in Fujian and neighboring Guangdong province forced to return to port.

Local authorities in Fujian and Guangdong hurried to evacuate residents at risk and implement storm precautions, order schools, shops and airports to close and all vessels to return to port.

So far authorities in Fujian have evacuated more than 150,000 people from low-lying areas, while 10,000 others have been moved to safer ground in Guangdong.

Officials in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said on Friday that Typhoon Megi's threat against Guangzhou, the host of the upcoming Asian Games, appeared to ease as it turned east on Thursday evening, and the games will be safe.

All 66 venues for the Asian Games have launched an emergency plan. More than 3,000 people have been in readiness dealing with the emergency 24 hours a day.

Domestic flights originating in Guangzhou were also affected and railway ferry services linking the mainland to the southern island of Hainan have been suspended through Saturday. Many coastal cities have also cut ferry services until the storm passes, according to an earlier report.

Megi is the 13th typhoon and possibly the strongest to hit China this year, the national weather forecaster said.

Xinhua and AFP contributed to this story.