Seven Taiwanese tourists who were injured in a traffic accident in northern China on Sunday came home yesterday on a direct medical charter flight.
The flight on a Trans Asia Airways Airbus 320 was arranged by the International SOS. Other members of the 16-person guided tour also returned on the flight.
Among the passengers were two sons of the only Taiwanese tourist killed in the accident. The two young men brought home the ashes of their mother, Fu Hsueh-chin (
The guided tour was organized by Taipei-based Hifly Tourist Service.
The accident occurred when the group was on its way from Jinan to Taian, a major tourist attraction in a mountainous area.
After the tragedy, the National Travel Agent Association and the quasi-official Straits Exchanges Foundation scrambled to offer assistance, arranging for emergency treatment and a direct cross-strait medical charter flight.
Travel industry sources said the flight cost around NT$3 million to NT$3.5 million (US$91,000 to US$106,000) to arrange, mostly covered by insurance.
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