The foreign ministry says it has made contact with ten Taiwanese tourists who were stranded at a shelter following two large earthquakes in Japan.
The tourists were stranded in Minamiaso (or South Aso City), after the two powerful earthquakes – a 6.4 and a 7.3 – struck Kumamoto Prefecture on Thursday and Saturday. More than 40 people were killed and nearly a thousand others were injured in those quakes.
Taiwan’s representative to Fukuoka, Japan traveled to Kumamoto Prefecture in person to pick up the tourists. They were expected to arrive at Fukuoka Airport on Sunday night, where they would board a flight back to Taiwan.
The representative office also sent seven vehicles to Kumamoto to transport 28 Taiwanese exchange students from two universities back to Fukuoka. The remaining students have already been settled into temporary accommodations.