Families of missing mainlanders arrive in Taiwan
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The families of 19 Chinese mainland tourists missing after a landslide triggered by Typhoon Megi swept away their tour buses arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at about 9 p.m. Monday.
Thirty-six relatives of the missing tourists and 13 mainland officials and tour workers arrived on a flight from Macao.
The tour group, from south China's Guangdong province, has been out of contact since Oct. 21 after a landslide on the Suao-Hualien Highway on the island's east coast.
Members from local rescue groups, Taiwan's Travel Agent Association, and the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association gave a briefing on the progress made in the search on Monday night after the families arrived. They also heard opinions from the family members.
Yao Ta-kuang, chairman of the island's Travel Agent Association, said at a press conference Monday afternoon that the association would partner each missing tourist's family members with a local volunteer and a car throughout their stay in Taiwan.
The families originally planned to go to the site of the landslide in Ilan county on Tuesday, but as the local weather bureau forecasted heavy rain on Monday night and possibly in the following two to three days in the region, their schedule might change, said Fan Guishan, director of the Taipei office of the mainland-based Cross-Strait Tourism Exchange Association (CTEA).
"Heavy rain will make the already fragile highway more dangerous. I'm afraid the rain will hamper the rescue and search efforts," he said.
"If there is a rainstorm tomorrow, we'll suspend the families' original plan of going to the landslide site," he said. "Ensuring the safety of the family members is our prior concern."
Apart from the 19 mainland tourists, tour group leader Tian Yuan from Beijing remains missing. Also, a local tour guide and two local drivers who were with the two mainland tour groups are still missing after their buses were hit by landslides on the Suao-Hualien Highway on Oct. 21.
Members of Tian's family arrived in Taiwan Saturday.
In a meeting with CTEA's deputy secretary-general Li Yaying in Ilan on Monday, Tian's mother said, "I only want to see my daughter as soon as possible."
Li arrived on the island Sunday to help coordinate rescue work and deal with the aftermath of the landslide.
Tian's husband, Kou Minghu, said, "The last time I was in touch with her was Wednesday night. She told me she had got rid of her cold and asked me if I was feeling better, because I'd not been feeling well either. I didn't expect it would be our last call."
The rescue team recovered some remains on Monday morning near a section on the Suao-Hualien Highway. Additionally, the local mortuary services office collected DNA samples from Tian's mother at noon to help in the identification.
Taiwan authorities have dispatched more than 200 rescuers to comb land and sea areas around the site Monday.
Bus debris was found on the slope Sunday, but with visibility down to only 2 meters at sea on Monday morning, the search was not proceeding well, said a rescue team member.
Rescue efforts were further disrupted by heavy rain Monday afternoon.
