Special report: Strong Earthquake Jolts SW China

    CHENGDU, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Eight tourists have been stranded on a cable car in Dujiangyan of the quake-hit southwest China for 26 hours, awaiting fire fighters to climb along the cable to rescue them.

    Twelve tourists from Taiwan and two from the Chinese mainland were on the ropeway in the Lingyan Temple when the massive quake hit Sichuan Province at 2:28 p.m. on Monday. The tourists were traveling in pairs in each car.

    Six Taiwan tourists were rescued by 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, said Yang Zheng, a spokesman of the Sichuan fire control general brigade.

    Fire fighting authorities received calls on the tourists' situation at 8 p.m. on Monday since telecommunication was disrupted after the earthquake. They decided to start rescue operation on Tuesday as it was too dangerous at night.

    Starting from 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, fire fighters inched along the cable to reach the tourists. They then lowered tourists to the ground with a rope. Fire fighters needed to climb up to 600 meters along the cable to save every pair of tourists.

    Helicopters could not be used for the rescue because of the landscape.

    More than 30 fire fighters were still working to rescue the stranded tourists at 5:16 p.m. Tuesday.