Charter flights planned for Taiwanese stranded after China quake

May 15, 2008, 9:52 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan said Thursday that it would send at least four charter flights to China to bring home about 1,700 Taiwanese stranded after a devastating earthquake there as two cargo charters loaded with relief supplies departed for China.

'After negotiations, the Chinese side has agreed to our proposal to send charter flights to Chongqing to bring our people back,' Premier Chang Chun-hsiung said.

About 1,100 Taiwanese are stranded in the scenic mountain spot of Jiuzaigou while 600 others were in other parts of Sichuan, the south-western province where Monday's 7.8-magnitude quake struck, Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation said.

Taiwan's China Airlines said it would send two flights Friday, and two other airlines - EVA Air and TransAsia - would also send planes, officials at the airlines said.

An Air Macau cargo plane loaded with 45 tons of supplies from Taiwan - including tents, blankets, body bags, food and medical supplies - left Thursday from Macau for Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, airline officials said.

Another relief flight, a cargo plane from China Airlines carrying 100 tons of supplies, headed to Chengdu directly from Taiwan in what was the first humanitarian direct flight across the Taiwan Strait, the officials said.

Taiwan has banned direct air links with China since 1949 when the Chinese Civil War split Taiwan and China.

A 20-member rescue team from the Taiwan Red Cross was to leave for China later Thursday after Beijing gave the green light for it to join their Chinese counterparts in search and rescue work.

China has agreed to allow Japan and Taiwan to send emergency rescue teams to help with efforts to save tens of thousands of people buried under rubble.

The two teams are believed to be the first foreign rescuers that China has allowed into the area since the earthquake destroyed thousands of buildings in Sichuan and other areas of south-western China. The confirmed death toll was 15,000 so far.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation, a government-funded agency charged with dealing with China in the absence of official ties, said 22 Taiwanese were missing: a 14-member tour group along with eight businessmen and individual visitors.

'We are doing all we can to locate those people,' a foundation official said.

So far, two Taiwanese, including a boy, have been confirmed killed in the quake.

The Taiwan government, Red Cross, civic groups and enterprises were raising money for the quake victims.

The island government has pledged a two-phase 2-billion-Taiwan-dollar (62.5-million-US-dollar) aid package.

In the first phase, Taiwan plans to spend 800 million Taiwan dollars to send 2,000 tons of aid to China.

In the second phase, Taiwan would ask government employees to donate one day's earnings and raise public funds to buy more aid for China. This aid would be worth an estimated 1.2 billion Taiwan dollars.