IPOH: Worried about the fate of 26 Malaysian tourists holidaying in earthquake-hit Sichuan, Ipoh Golden Dragon Tours Sdn Bhd has asked its contacts in the southwestern province of China to look for them.

"We have been unable to contact them since the quake on Monday as all phone lines are down," said manager Andy Khong at the office in Jalan Raja Ekram here, yesterday.

The group, which left last Thursday for a nine-day tour, was scheduled to return tomorrow, he said.

He said there were 23 women in the group, four were from Bukit Mertajam and the rest from here.

Another spokesperson said the tour agency had staff on a 24-hour standby to convey information to family members as soon as they receive any.
Yesterday, the tour agency contacted the Malaysian Consulate in Kunming, seeking help to trace the group, whose last known location was at Maoxian, less than 50km from Wenchuan, the epicentre of the 7.9-magnitude quake which claimed more than 13,000 lives.

It was also reported that 27 people were killed in Maoxian due to the quake, which cut off communication lines and rendered the area inaccessible by road.