Society

192 Chinese rescued from flood-hit Pakistan arrive home

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-08 09:35

Chinese workers and engineers walk out of a chartered plane at the airport in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Aug. 7, 2010. The first batch of 192 Chinese workers and engineers, who had once been trapped and rescued in flood-hit Pakistan's northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, returned to China Saturday.  [Photo/Agencies]

URUMQI - A group of 192 Chinese workers and engineers, who had been trapped and later rescued in flood- hit Pakistan's northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, returned home at 8:24 p.m.Saturday on a charter flight.

The plane took them to Urumqi, northwest China' s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and after a brief stay, they will fly to their home towns in central China's Henan Province, east China's Shandong Province and southwest China's Sichuan Province.

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"I feel safe coming back home,"  Feng Yong, an engineer said at the Urumqi airport.

A total of 268 Chinese workers and engineers working at a hydro-power station project in the Patan area of Kohistan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were trapped on a mountain as a huge landslide, triggered by floods and torrential rains, washed across their work site on July 29.

All 265 people were safely evacuated, except for three workers who went missing.

Fourteen Chinese engineers are still taking care of the flood-ravaged project site while the remaining 59 workers are waiting for other arrangements in Islamabad.