ALL 54 tourists from the Chinese mainland who were stranded in Taiwan on Friday night after heavy rains brought by typhoon Megi triggered landslides were lifted out of danger by helicopters yesterday morning.

But 20 other mainlandtourists remained missing, Taiwan tourism authorities said.

Among those out of contact are 19 mainland people from a tourist group from Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, and a tour group leader from Beijing. Their buses were hit by mud and rock at a section of the Suao-Hualien Highway on Taiwan's east coast.

The group leader, together with the Taiwan driver, helped the mainlandtourists on the bus get to safety before a boulder crushed the bus and sent them down a valley with the vehicle.

Five other Taiwan residents were also missing on the highway, bringing the total number of missing people to 26, said the Taiwan emergencymanagement authority yesterday morning.

Meanwhile, rescuers searching mountainsides yesterday found mangled vehicle parts that were thought to be the bus that was carrying the missingmainlandtourists.

Taiwan's transport chief, Mao Chih-kuo, said rescuers found the vehicle parts in a deep valley next to the coastal highway. "The bus was covered with thick mud," the transport official said.

Next to the vehicle was the wreckage of another bus crushed by a huge boulder, but mainlandtourists on that bus were able to escape, Mao added.

Disasters caused by Typhoon Megi have claimed 12 lives on the island and buried a Buddhist temple in Ilan County in Taiwan's northeast, where a record 114 centimeters of rain fell over 48 hours.

After leaving Taiwan, Megi, which earlier killed 26 people in the Philippines, made landfall on the southeast coast of the Chinese mainlandyesterday afternoon.

Megi pounded Fujian Province, but was downgraded to a strong tropical storm with winds of up to 108 kilometers per hour. TV news footage showed flooded streets, uprooted trees and swollen waterways, but there were no immediate reports of major damage.

So far, the storm has forced the cancellation of nearly 80 flights at the airport in Xiamen, Fujian. Authorities evacuated 272,300 people from villages, according to the provincial water resources department.

News footage from Fujian also showed waves crashing on shore amid steady rain. Residents used ropes to secure street lamps and other objects that could be blown away by the wind. Workers tied down large boats in Zhangpu port.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• missing [´misiŋ] a.缺掉的；失踪的 (初中英语单词)
• contact [´kɔntækt] n.接触；联系 v.联络 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• highway [´haiwei] n.公路，大道 (初中英语单词)
• valley [´væli] n.谷；河谷；流域 (初中英语单词)
• management [´mænidʒmənt] n.管理；处理；经营 (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
• transport [træn´spɔ:t] n.运输；流放 (初中英语单词)
• temple [´tempəl] n.庙宇；寺院；太阳穴 (初中英语单词)
• tourist [´tuərist] n.游客，观光者 (高中英语单词)
• emergency [i´mə:dʒənsi] n.事变；紧急关头 (高中英语单词)
• northeast [,nɔ:θ´i:st] n.东北 a.东北的 (高中英语单词)
• philippines [´filipi:nz] n.菲律宾 (高中英语单词)
• tropical [´trɔpikəl] a.热带地区的 (高中英语单词)
• mainland [´meinlənd] n.大陆；本土 (英语四级单词)
• boulder [´bəuldə] n.大石头，卵石；巨砾 (英语四级单词)
• vehicle [´vi:ikəl] n.车辆；媒介物 (英语四级单词)
• southeast [,sauθ´i:st] n.&a.东南(方) (英语四级单词)
• swollen [´swəulən] swell的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
• provincial [prə´vinʃəl] a.省的 n.外省人 (英语四级单词)