KUALA LUMPUR: The group of 26 Malaysian tourists caught by the earthquake in China last Monday arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport early today.
They arrived via China Eastern Airline flight MU 539 at 12.50am and were greeted by about 20 family members, most of whom expressed relief at their relatives’ narrow escape.
“It was a harrowing few days for us because we lost contact with them,” said a relative, who declined to be named.
He expressed his gratitude to Wisma Putra, the Malaysian embassy in Beijing and other authorities for helping to bring their loved ones back home.
Also present were officials from the Foreign Ministry.
Some of the survivors were bussed back to their homes in Ipoh while the rest stayed with their relatives in Kuala Lumpur.
The group left Chengdu’s Shuangliu international airport yesterday for Shanghai before their flight to Malaysia.
Five days after the earthquake, the 26 were found safe in the small foothill town Maoxian, Aba.
On Saturday, all of them were airlifted by military helicopters to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, about 150km away.
They had been stranded in Maoxian since Monday, which is less than 50km from the epicentre of the quake in Wenchuan district, as the area’s infrastructure had been badly damaged.
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy said it would open a condolence book from today to Wednesday, the period which the Chinese government has declared as national mourning days.
The book will be available at the embassy lobby from 9am to noon and 2pm to 5pm on the three days.
Meanwhile, Bernama reports that Malaysians in Chengdu are rallying to help the victims.
David Siow, the chairman of Malaysian Association of Sichuan, said his staff at a fast food franchise had spent the last few days packing food and other essentials for victims of the quake.
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