Over 600 people still remain trapped in the Taroko Gorge National Park, with 13 others missing following Wednesday's 7.3-magnitude earthquake which jolted the sea area near Hualien County of China's Taiwan region, according to the latest data released at 14:00 on Friday.
They are mainly trapped in a hotel within the Taroko gorge park region, a primary school campus and in a nearby activity center.
Despite that the damaged roads leading to the areas have not been restored, the rescuers have confirmed that those who remain trapped are safe at present, and they have enough food and water for about four days.
A group of people rescued from the Silks Place Taroko hotel has arrived at the rescue center.
Earlier on Friday, two bodies were discovered in the tourist attraction's Shakadang Trail area, but their identities have yet to be confirmed.
The earthquake jolted the sea area near Hualien County at 7:58 on Wednesday.
According to the statistics from the Taiwan meteorological agency, there have been more than 500 aftershocks as of Friday. The sprinkle since Thursday night brought more difficulties and even temporary suspension to the search and rescue mission.
The devastating earthquake had killed at least 10 people and injured more than 1,000 others as of Thursday.
Over 600 people remain trapped, 13 missing in Taroko gorge park region following deadly earthquake in China's Taiwan
China's domestically developed C919 large passenger aircraft began flight transport service on two new routes on Sunday.
At 11:19 on Sunday, a C919 aircraft smoothly landed at the Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang City, the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, from Shanghai in east China some 1,000 kilometers away, marking the C919's first commercial flight in northeast China. The airport celebrated the occasion with a water salute.
"The seats are very spacious, and the flight experience is excellent," said a passenger.
"Flying on a homegrown plane feels especially smooth. I took the inaugural C919 flight to Chengdu, and unexpectedly, within a year, more than a dozen routes have been launched. I think the airline operations in our country are particularly impressive," said another passenger.
The other new air route opened on the day for the C919 is the one from northwest China's Xi'an City to south China's Guangzhou City about 1,400 kilometers away.
The Xi'an-Guangzhou service became the third domestic air route operated from Xi'an to use the C919, following China Eastern Airlines' earlier introduction of this aircraft on its Xi'an-Beijing and Xi'an-Shanghai routes. This also means that the Xianyang International Airport in Xi'an has become a major airport in China in terms of flights performed by the C919.
Notably, China Eastern Airlines in January 2025 started using the C919 jetliner for regular flights between Shanghai in east China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the country's south -- which is the airline's first scheduled commercial flight service to Hong Kong using the C919.
The C919 is a narrow-body passenger aircraft with a maximum capacity of 192 seats. It is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, built in accordance with international airworthiness standards and featuring independently registered intellectual property rights.
China initiated the C919 project in 2007, and it was developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC). The first C919 aircraft rolled off the production line in Shanghai in November 2015.
China's homegrown C919 aircraft begins to serve two new domestic air routes
