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KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia has pledged 1.5 million dollars in aid to earthquake hit China, as a report Saturday said 26 tourists from Malaysia have been found and flown out of the disaster zone.
The Malaysian tourists -- 23 women and three men, including 18 elderly -- were airlifted to a military airport at Chengdu, the New Straits Times daily said.
They arrived at the airport at 5.20pm (0920 GMT) Friday after a 30-minute flight from Maoxian, a Malaysian Embassy spokesman said according to the newspaper.
The group, who were stranded in Maoxian, which is 50 kilometres away from the quake's epicentre in Wenchuan district, will be brought back to Kuala Lumpur via Kunming in Yunan province, the daily said.
China has said more than 50,000 people likely died in the devastating 7.9-magnitude earthquake that hit its southwest on Monday.
Experts have said the search-and-rescue operation is entering its most crucial phase, with the chances of finding survivors diminishing by the hour.
Malaysia's foreign ministry has set up an operations room as a communications point and to provide assistance to relatives of the missing.
The foreign ministry said the 1.5 million dollars aid to victims of the earthquake was given in view of Malaysia's close ties with Beijing.
"This contribution is made in solidarity between the government of Malaysia and the government of China and out of concern of the catastrophic earthquake," it said in a late Friday statement. - AFP/ir
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