Five Chinese tourists killed in Taiwan bus crash

TAIPEI, Oct 3 (Reuters) Five Chinese tourists and their local guide were killed and 15 were injured in Taiwan when their bus veered off a steep mountain road, officials said today.

Medical and insurance details were being handled locally and the crash should not affect relations between China and Taiwan, which selectively allows visitors from the mainland, a cross-Strait official in Taipei said.

At about 1710 hrs yesterday, the driver of the tour bus apparently lost control while driving down a narrow two-lane road from famed Mount Ali national park, county officials near the crash site said.

Television footage showed rescue workers struggling to free trapped passengers in the overturned bus, the roof of which was completely smashed.

Rescue and investigation work on the barely-lit highway in Nantou county in central Taiwan lasted until past 2 a.m. local time and was set to continue through most of Tuesday, county officials said.

The Chinese tourists, employees of a factory in the northeastern city of Dalian and aged from 29 to 70, were being treated at a Taiwan hospital, said a spokeswoman for the Straits Exchange Foundation, Taiwan's agency that negotiates with China.

A number of agencies in China had been informed and any flap between the two governments was unlikely, said foundation Secretary General You Ying-lung.

China sees self-ruled Taiwan as a renegade province.

Taiwan, citing concerns over illegal immigration, allows Chinese tourists only on small-scale package tours. The government has said it would open the island to more Chinese tourists by the end of the year.

REUTERS AKJ RK1030