32 foreign tourists await evacuation from quake-hit areas of Tibet

BEIJING: Thirty two foreign tourists, stuck in a quake-hit Tibetan town along the Nepal border, are awaiting evacuation, a local tourism official said today.

A total of 39 tourists from nine tour groups were stationed in Zham Town, an important customs checkpoint on the China-Nepal border when a powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit neighbouring Nepal.

Five Dutch tourists left the town on the day of the quake and two other Belgians did not enter Zham.

All the tourists are safe and have been contacted by regional tourism authorities, Yuan Xiaorong of the Tibet Tourism Bureau was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Rescuers will help evacuate those remaining in Zham, Yuan said.

The tourists are from countries including the US, Israel, Malaysia, France and Australia.

Summer is the peak tourist season in Tibet. Some 26,000 overseas tourists visited it in the first five months of last year.

25 people have been killed in Tibet in the wake of the catastrophic Nepal earthquake.