Over 600 Chinese tourists stranded in quake-hit Nepal

Chinese tourists are seen outside the Kathmandu airport after an 8.1-magnitude earthquake hits Nepal on Saturday, April 25, 2015. The airport was shut on Saturday following the strong earthquake. [Photo/China News Service]

BEIJING - As of 10:00 a.m. Sunday, a total of 683 Chinese tourists were stranded in Nepal after a powerful earthquake hit the country on Saturday, said tourism authorities.

There are some 52 Chinese tourist groups in Nepal besides individual tourists, according to the China National Tourism Administration.

These tourists came from Beijing, Shanghai, northwest China's Shaanxi Province and southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, among others.

There will be 14 flights planned to fly between China and Nepal on Sunday, including 3 carrying relief materials and another 2 chartered relief flights.

Upon the request of Chinese embassy in Nepal, China Southern Airlines will dispatch a provisional chartered flight on Sunday morning to pick up the Chinese tourists.

China has sent a 62-member Chinese search and rescue team, plus six dogs, to Nepal's capital city Kathmandu by chartered plane, according to the China Earthquake Administration. The chartered plane will also carry some Chinese tourists back at its return trip.