China's official Xinhua agency reported that 19 British tourists were unharmed and had arranged to stay in the Wolong giant panda nature reserve.

The Foreign Office and a travel company have said the group was travelling by coach Monday from Chengdu to Wolong in Wenchuan county in Sichuan province when the 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck.

But a Foreign Office spokeswoman said late Wednesday she was unable to confirm that the Britons were safe.

The tourists were clients of Travel Collection, part of the Kuoni holiday company.

A spokesman for the company said earlier Wednesday: "All lines of communication to the region are down and as such no further information is known at this time.

"We are working closely with the British Consulate in China."

Xinhua reported early Thursday Beijing time that more than 3,000 Chinese and foreign tourists stranded in a scenic spot in the quake-hit Sichuan province had been evacuated.

More than 40,000 people died or were missing or buried under rubble after the biggest earthquake China has experienced in a generation.

earlier related report
3,000 stranded tourists evacuated from China quake area: state media
More than 3,000 domestic and foreign tourists stranded in a scenic spot in China's quake-hit Sichuan province have been evacuated, state media reported Thursday.

About 6,000 tourists had been stranded in Jiuzhaigou after Monday's massive 7.9-magnitude quake, the worst to hit China for a generation, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The remaining 2,517 tourists, including 682 from overseas, will be evacuated on Thursday, Xinhua quoted the National Tourism Administration as saying. It added that all those rescued would be taken to "safe places."

The administration's disaster relief office said 11 Taiwanese tourists stranded in cable cars in Lingyan Mountain in Dujiangyan had been rescued, although a 56-year-old man had died.

As of late Wednesday, 19 British tourists and 12 guests from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) had arranged to stay in the Wolong giant panda nature reserve and were unharmed, the report said.

Britain's foreign ministry and a travel company had said on Wednesday that a group of 19 British tourists remained missing after the quake.

There was no immediate confirmation from London that the British tourists were safe and sound or that the Chinese state media report was referring to the same group.

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