The 19 British tourists, who had been out of touch since the 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck on Monday, were earlier found safe and well.

The Foreign Office said 14 members of the group were flown from the Wolong panda reserve in Wenchuan county, to Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, by Chinese military helicopter. It has not yet been confirmed whether the remaining five, travelling with the Kuoni tour company, have been evacuated.

David Atkins, 64, and his 63-year-old wife Diane, from Portchester, Hampshire, were among the Travel Collection group.

Speaking from the hotel in Chengdu, Mrs Atkins told Sky News she was washing her hands and thought she heard a train coming.

She said: "Then I thought it can't be a train here, this is more, and I opened the door and all the floor was moving up and my husband was running towards me panic-stricken. Then we looked around and everybody was running and rocks were falling and then we looked up and the mountain just seemed to explode."

She said boulders were falling down the mountain and the couple ran into the doorway of the panda enclosure, where her husband shielded her from danger.

"We thought we were going to be buried alive. I really thought we were going to die."

She said it was difficult to sleep because of the possibility of after-shocks and the fear the nearby river might rise and flood the area.

The tourists said moments before the quake struck the pandas they were watching at the world famous Wolong reserve became agitated.