MALAYSIA: Elderly Malaysian Tourists Missing After Quake

By Tham Choy Lin BEIJING (Bernama News), May 14, 2008: A group of 26 elderly Malaysian tourists has been missing since Monday's devastating earthquake that hit south-western Sichuan province as the death toll rises to nearly 15,000 and thousands reported buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings and landslides. Several Malaysian families with young children in Chengdu have made plans to go home due to fears of water shortage and repeated aftershocks in the provincial capital. While the fate of the group is still not known, there have been no reports of Malaysian casualties, said Malaysian Consul-General in Kunming Ayauf Bachi. The consulate has sought the help of Sichuan local government to trace the Malaysians whose last known stop was in Maoxian, less than 50km from the epicentre of the quake in Wenchuan county. "The Chinese authorities formed a special team this morning to look for foreign tourists. We are working with them on this," he told Bernama. Copyright: Bernama