Rescuers in Taiwan are working to reach more than 600 stranded people, a day after the island experienced its worst earthquake in 25 years.
One survivor has recounted how tremors unleashed rockslides “like bullets” around the coal mine he was working at.
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit near the eastern county of Hualien, killing nine and injuring more than 1,000.
Some stuck in tunnels and near a national park have been rescued by helicopters, but 34 are still missing.
The official number of people trapped or stranded rose considerably – from about 100 to 660 – on Thursday as people started getting phone signal back in the mountainous regions.
Almost all are guests and staff of a remote hotel who cannot leave because of damaged roads. Officials are now trying to work out the best way to get them out.
Food supplies have been air-dropped to dozens trapped in these areas, local reports say.
“The mountain started raining rocks like bullets, we had nowhere to escape to, everyone ran beside the sandbags for cover,” the survivor, identified by his surname Chu, told Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
Three of the nine who died were hikers on a trail leading towards Taroko National Park, named after a landmark gorge, just outside Hualien.
