Trapped holidaymakers rescued from island
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-05-07 08:49

More than 1,000 tourists have been rescued after storms stranded them on an island in the Beibu Bay of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Tuesday.

The last batch of 400 tourists arrived at the city of Beihai on Wednesday morning from Weizhou Island, a sightseeing spot in the bay, 66 kilometres off the coast.

Strong winds swept seas near the island from Tuesday morning, postponing the departure of two passenger boats from Beihai which were due to return the tourists on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Another vessel, the Beibu Bay No 2, which is only meant to carry 400 passengers, was stranded after more than 1,000 people clambered aboard in a bid to leave the island.

The local government then sent other boats to rescue the passengers. The first rescue vessel reached the island at around 10 pm on Tuesday and returned about 300 tourists. But several hundred others spent the night on the island and were rescued early the next day.

Beihai Vice-Mayor Chen Chengcai apologized to the trapped tourists on Wednesday morning after they reached Beihai, promising them compensation of at least 1,000 yuan (US$120) each.

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