Tourists from Shanghai stranded in Sichuan Province after the earthquake have since returned to the city, officials said yesterday.

The last group of 23 to return was in Maoxian County when the quake struck.

"At noon on May 12, their bus broke down on the way from Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area to Chengdu," said Zhang Lei, an official with Spring International Travel Service Co Ltd, the group's organizers. "Fortunately they coped well in the disaster."

A total of 1,411 tourists from Shanghai were in Sichuan on May 12, including 14 foreigners. One was killed and six were injured, according to the Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission.

Mao Jiantong, a tour guide with Shanghai Jincheng Travel Service, wrote a diary on a notepad by candlelight chronicling his group's experience. His group returned to the city three days after the quake.

"We set out for the Siguniang Mountain in Wolong area," he wrote. "When we were about pass through Youyi Tunnel, the bus started to severely vibrate. We could hear rocks smashing on the top of the bus.

"The driver managed to leave the tunnel, but could not get further ahead as another bus had stopped in front of ours. I could see rocks showering down like a waterfall."

A young policeman warned them that the mountain might collapse in seconds, and said they should find a safe place.

"We began to run for our lives, until reaching a square in front of a police station after a kilometer," Mao wrote in his diary.

They started a long walk and climb as highways were broken or blocked by rocks. They carried only necessities such as food, water, medicine, umbrellas and torches.

"At that time, aftershocks hit about every 10 minutes, and everyone was extremely scared," Mao wrote. That night, Mao and his group sheltered in classrooms at a newly built primary school in the village of Shuitianping.

The school buildings survived the quake. "We all stayed awake as aftershocks still hit from time to time," Mao wrote. On May 13, the tourists learned by radio that rescuers had been blocked by landslides. So they decided to walk back to Dujiangyan, where they met a bus sent by the tour company coming to their rescue.

(Shanghai Daily May 22, 2008)