A tour guide, surnamed Chen, led 12 tourists and walked four hours out of the quake center. She recalled:

'We were driving from Chongqing to the Jiuzhaigou scenic area in the north, but our bus was stuck in a tunnel in Wenchuan when the earthquake happened.

'We had to stay in the bus for the night, and on Tuesday morning, we decided to leave the bus and walk.

'We were all very scared.

'I finally made contact with our tour agency and the moment we met the people who came to our rescue, all of us cried and couldn't say anything at all. We were lucky that the nightmare was over.'

XINHUA