Some relatives of tour group leader Tian Yuan and the missing tourists have already arrived in Taiwan.

Altogether, 247 of the 269 mainland tourists in 13 tour groups stranded on the Suao-Hualien Highway when the typhoon hit have already returned to the mainland. Another two are still being treated in Taiwan.

Yang called on Taiwan authorities to draw lessons from the accident to improve security for mainland tourists in Taiwan.

Cross-Strait tourism might suffer in the short time from the incident but it will continue to develop in a healthy and orderly manner through better cooperation and improved security work, Yang said.

The ARATS' deputy secretary-general Zhang Shenglin and Man Hongwei, secretary-general of the mainland's Cross-Strait Tourism Exchange Association (CTEA), arrived in Taiwan Wednesday to facilitate the searching.

At a meeting with the SEF Vice Chairman Kao Koong-lian, Zhang urged Taiwan authorities to intensify rescue efforts, increase the number of rescue workers, ensure the rights of mainland tourists, and draw lessons from this mishap, improve the early-warning system so as to prevent such tragedy from happening again.

Taiwan authorities send more than 200 people for the search Wednesday, and found two suitcases as well as some RMB bank notes.