Holiday Britons reported safe
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Print
Email
At least 100 British tourists in the earthquake-hit region of China have been contacted and all are safe, it was announced today.
But the Foreign Office (FO) and UK travel organisation Abta were still trying to track down any other British travellers who were in the Sichuan province devastated by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake which has claimed at least 12,000 lives.
Abta said that information from its holiday company members so far contacted showed that these tour firms has around 100 clients in Sichuan region - many of them visiting giant panda areas.
Abta spokesman Sean Tipton said: "All these 100 people are safe and they are not in any danger."
The news from Abta came as aftershocks hit Sichuan as teams continued rescue work over a wide area.
The FO has advised against all but essential travel to Sichuan province. The FO was today continuing to establish just how many Britons might be in the region.
An FO spokeswoman said today: "We have no confirmed reports of any Britons being hurt in the earthquake. We are working on trying to track down all the Britons in the area."
The FO has been unable to confirm a report from China's Xinhua News Agency that a group of 15 British tourists "were out of reach on Tuesday morning in Wenchuan", the epicentre of the earthquake.
The Foreign Office has now set up a telephone number for people to contact if they think their loved ones may have been involved in the disaster - 0086 105 192 4499.
Mr Tipton said one of the main reasons for people visiting the earthquake-hit region was to see giant pandas.
He went on: "There are people due to go out there in the next few days and obviously they will not be travelling there now."
He said Britons made a total of 320,000 visits to China last year, while around 310,000 trips were made in 2006.
Mr Tipton went on: "China has been growing in popularity with UK visitors and with the Olympics this year there has been increased interest."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband pledged to help China deal with the devastation wrought by the earthquake.
Mr Miliband said: "The UK stands ready to assist."
He added it was "a further and tragic shock to a region already trying to handle the devastation in Burma".
Mr Miliband went on: "Emerging news of the loss of life and devastation in China is deeply saddening. My thoughts are with the Chinese people and those families who have suffered loss. The Chinese government are to be commended for their quick and efficient response."
A Beijing-based charity worker earlier predicted that the death toll would rise.
Dale Rutstein, of Unicef China, said he had only been able to get limited reports from the epicentre of the disaster in Sichuan province.
He said: "It is very difficult, almost impossible to get through on the phone but we have had brief, sketchy conversations with local press reporters who have backed up the main picture.
"I would expect the death toll to rise as Sichuan is one of the most populated provinces and one of the poorest.
"There are a lot of people living in marginal areas that are difficult to get to and a lot of the buildings in those areas are sub-standard and could collapse very quickly."
Mr Rutstein added that the death toll in the province's capital city, Chengdu, could be kept down by the construction boom it is currently experiencing.
He said: "Chengdu is 57 miles from the epicentre and we are 930 miles away in Beijing and we felt it.
"There are 10 million people there but the amount of construction means there is a lot of new buildings which will be built to a better standard so they may survive. I would imagine the outlying areas would be hit worse."
Save the Children's Wyndham James is also in the Chinese capital and said the timing of the earthquake could increase the death toll.
He said: "The earthquake was about 2.30pm and is a time when most children are in school.There are also other institutions like orphanages and hospitals that could be affected.
"The latest figure Chinese television is giving was 7,651 dead which was a terrifically precise number. I would imagine the Chinese authorities would put out a conservative estimate because they would want to say what they know and not guess at anything. The death toll will undoubtedly climb."
