A retired couple who went to rural China to see pandas in the wild are among a coach party of 19 Britons missing in the earthquake-hit region.

David and Diane Atkins, from Porchester, Hampshire, were travelling from their hotel in Chengdu, Sichuan’s provincial capital, to the Wolong nature reserve when the disaster struck.

China’s worst quake for 30 years has left tens of thousands dead and missing. An estimated 2,000 travellers remain unaccounted for. So far, no foreign casualties have been reported.

The Atkins’ only daughter, Lisa Staples, from Portsmouth, said that she and other family members had sent e-mails to their parents and called their hotel but no one has yet located the coach. She revealed concern about her parents' wellbeing in a comment posted beneath the news story on Times Online.

“We are worried sick. We want to know if they are well, but have heard nothing so far. The tour operator has not been able to help and we are now waiting for the Foreign Office to tell us what is going on,” she said. “I cannot sleep, and just want to know that they are okay."

Mr Atkins, 64, a former postmaster, booked the holiday some months ago because of his wife's love of wildlife. “They like going on long haul holidays and really like to see animals in the wild,” said Mrs Staples, 39, who has three children. “They flew out there on the Sunday and were really very excited about it,” she added.

The Dorking-based Kuoni Travel, which arranged the trip, said they were trying to contact the coach party which travelled with a driver and local guide. “All lines of communication to the region are down and as such no further information is known at this time," a spokesman said.

"The UK operations team and duty officer in conjunction with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in the UK and China are continuing to try to make contact with the group," he said.

It is believed that the tour group is the same mentioned by China's Xinhua state news agency, which said on Tuesday that 15 Britons “were out of reach on Tuesday morning in Wenchuan”, the epicentre of the earthquake.

The panda reserves of Sichuan province are a popular destination for tourists, especially the Wolong nature reserve in Wenchuan county, the epicentre of the quake.

The Wolong panda sanctuary has about 128 pandas, more than half the country's captive population. At least 80 animals were reported to be safe by state media last night.

An Abta spokesman said that the organisation had checked with all its member companies operating tours in China and all other Britons on organised tours in the region - around 100 people - were safe and well. It was impossible to say how many independent British travellers are in the region.

"In terms of packages, it's just the one party that can't be contacted," said a spokesman. “It could just be a communication problem - we're very hopeful that it is - but only time will tell."

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