Tourists 'safe' in earthquake zone

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The BBC reported that China's official news agency Xinhua said the Britons were safe and well and had arranged to stay in the Wolong giant panda nature reserve.

A spokeswoman for the British Embassy in China's capital Beijing said the embassy was trying to contact local officials to confirm the report.

The Chinese government has suggested that the death toll could rise to more than 50,000 with emergency teams on the ground facing a race against time to save those alive, but still trapped.

The 19 holidaymakers have so far been unaccounted for after going out of contact while on a visit to the reserve, in Wenchuan county, when the 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck on Monday.

The Travel Collection group, travelling with tour company Kuoni, included retired couple David and Diane Atkins, from Portchester, Hampshire.

Their daughter, Lisa Staples, from Portsmouth, said she feared for their lives as her father took blood pressure tablets.

She said: "The panda reserve is where they should be if they had stuck to the itinerary.

"My mum and dad will know I am being freaked out by this and they should phone in and they haven't. I am trying really hard to keep busy and not panic.

"But time is running out for my dad. They are over 60 and they both need facilities." Mr Atkins, 64, a former postmaster, and his 63-year-old wife, left Heathrow on Sunday May 4 and are due back on Monday May 19.