Typhoon traps 1,300 tourists on island

NANNING - More than 1,300 tourists have been stranded on an island in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region since Monday due to typhoon Bebinca, local authorities said Thursday.

Transport between the island and the mainland was suspended on Monday as the typhoon brought gales and huge waves, damaging the "Beiyou 12" passenger ship, said Wang Chongliang, secretary of the Weizhou Township Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Beihai city.

There is a shortage of vegetables and poultry meat on the island and living necessities will last three to five days at most, said Wang.

Resumption of the passenger ship will depend on the weather, according to the Beihai municipal maritime bureau.

The Beihai municipal meteorological station continued to issue a gale warning on Wednesday evening.

Such bad weather has lasted four to five days in previous years, but will last longer this year, said Wang.