Hotel guests are evacuated from the Tangke Palace Hotel in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake jolted the province, August 8, 2017. (Photo/Shanghai Daily)
(ECNS) -- Passengers can get refunds for flights and change existing itineraries for travel to Jiuzhaigou free of charge, said Air China after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the holiday resort in Southwest China's Sichuan province.(More about Jiuzhaigou earthquake)
Air China said flights would continue flying to Jiuzaigou, a national park known for its spectacular waterfalls and karst formations, in order to retrieve travelers trapped in the quake-hit area.
Additional resources and rescue flights were prepared to take off from Beijing and Chengdu.
Air China's flight CA4393, from Jiuzhaigou to Guangzhou, took off at 9:47 p.m. on August 8 and was the first flight to leave a local airport after the earthquake.
At least 13 people were killed and 175 injured, according to the province's information office.
China's cabinet, the State Council, has sent a national work team to the disaster-hit area to guide relief work. Local governments have activated top-level emergency response procedures, according to a Xinhua report.
A local news website reported that Jiuzhaigou received about 41,000 tourists on August 5, putting it at full capacity, Xinhua said.
