A group of eight Maltese travellers in earthquake-hit Chile are safe in a hotel in Pucón, 780 kilometres south of Santiago, although they told relatives they were exhausted from lack of sleep.
Paul Bonnici, Joseph Grech, Joseph Farrugia, Hubert Muscat, Bernardette Doorley, Salvino Mifsud Bonnici, Andrew Said and Simon Said were visiting Chile on the invitation of winery Concha y Toro. The group left Malta last Sunday.
Another member of the group, 40-year-old Mark Borg Hedley, returned to Malta last Thursday to attend to family matters.
The Foreign Ministry had appealed to relatives of Maltese who were in Chile to get in touch. After the devastating earthquake hit the country, the group confirmed they were safe via e-mail, since telephone networks collapsed. Their mobile phones were not working but lines were restored late in the night.
The Sunday Times managed to make contact with Simon Said last night who said the group had felt the tremors but the situation around them was calm. "There are no buildings collapsing around us. We are all together and all OK. Our families should not worry," he said, adding he was unsure when the group would be able to leave.
Mr Said's wife, Donna, said she was extremely concerned when she first heard news of the earthquake at 7 a.m. yesterday, and was unable to call the hotel where her husband was staying because the phone line was dead.
She eventually received an e-mail from her husband saying he was safe and that the group was being moved to a hotel further inland because of the tsunami warning. She said the group was expected to depart for Paris on Thursday, but the return could be delayed because of damage to Santiago airport.
The massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake killed at least 214 people, but casualties are expected to rise.
The epicentre was located in Maule, 325 kilometres southeast of the Santiago, but houses in the historic centre of the capital were damaged. The Maltese group had left the area the day before.
Chileans spoke of a night of terror yesterday after being shaken awake hours before dawn. Numerous aftershocks were felt within hours of the initial quake, which triggered a tsunami.
The Foreign Ministry appealed to relatives of any other Maltese who may be in Chile to make contact with it on telephone numbers 7947 6382, 7943 0801 or 2124 2191. The ministry said the group of nine were the only ones who had contacted them for visas, issued via the embassy in Italy.