First group comprising 44 people evacuated from quake-hit Tianxiang

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) The first 44 people stranded in the mountainous Tianxiang region of eastern Taiwan following a major earthquake that hit off the east coast on April 3 were evacuated Sunday morning, according to an emergency response center.

Those rescued were among over 400 who remained stranded in various locations in Hualien County after being cut off by landslides and other damage caused by the quake.

Evacuees included people stranded in Tianxiang and at a hotel in Taroko National Park, while 59 teachers and students from Xibao Elementary School were set to be evacuated from the mountain later in the day, the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) said.

The damaged road section between Tianxiang and the entrance gate to Taroko Gorge reopened to traffic around 8 a.m. Sunday, enabling police to escort the 44 people, 17 motor vehicles and two motorcycles out of Tianxiang two hours later, the Seventh Special Police Corps said in a statement.

Meanwhile, nine people trapped in Datong and Dali tribal areas in Xiulin Township were airlifted from the mountainous area on Sunday morning, according to the statement.

In addition, rescuers have stepped up efforts to search for a Singaporean couple -- who also hold Australian citizenship -- reported missing after the earthquake, according to Interior Minister Lin Yu-chang (林右昌), who heads the CEOC.

CCTV footage showed that the missing couple took a tourist shuttle bus heading to Taroko National Park terminating at Tianxiang on the morning of April 3.

They were last seen in video footage getting off at Shakadang around 7:20 a.m., about 40 minutes before the quake struck, and are believed to have gone hiking in the area, according to the CEOC.

Search and rescue personnel, including a team of seven Turkish personnel who arrived in Taiwan Saturday to assist in the rescue efforts, are pulling out all the stops to search possible routes the couple could have taken, Lin noted.

The magnitude 7.2 quake, the strongest in 25 years, which hit just offshore of eastern Taiwan at 7:58 a.m. on April 3, was felt across the island.