Four Chinese killed in Nepal quake, over 600 tourists stranded

BEIJING: Four Chinese nationals have been killed in the devastating Nepal earthquake that left hundreds of Chinese tourists stranded in the country, which is still reeling from the aftershocks of its worst tragedy in 80 years.

Four Chinese were killed and five were critically injured in the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal yesterday, the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu said.

The four Chinese included one tourist, one climber and two working in a Chinese company, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Nearly, 683 Chinese tourists have been stranded in Nepal following the earthquake, Chinese tourism authorities said today.

There are some 52 Chinese tourist groups in Nepal besides individual tourists, China National Tourism Administration said.

These tourists came from Beijing, Shanghai, northwest China's Shaanxi Province and southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, among others.

There will be 14 flights planned to fly between China and Nepal today, including 3 carrying relief materials and another 2 chartered relief flights, the report said.

Upon the request of Chinese embassy in Nepal, China Southern Airlines will dispatch a provisional chartered flight to pick up the Chinese tourists.

China has also sent a 62-member search and rescue team, plus six dogs, to Nepal's capital city Kathmandu by chartered plane, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

China has initiated an emergency humanitarian aid plan to quake-hit Nepal, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said.

The MOC pays high attention to the major disaster and Nepal's aid requests and has started an emergency humanitarian aid plan, an official statement said.

The quake measuring 7.9 on Richter scale, which was followed by multiple aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or greater, killed over 2,000 people and left several thousands injured and hundreds missing across the country and caused avalanches on the world's tallest mountain -- Mount Everest.