A group of 19 British tourists are unaccounted for after the devastating earthquake in China.

Chinese officials say the death toll, which last night stood at more than 12,000, is likely to soar, with 19,000 still buried in one city alone. In Wenchuan district 60,000 people are missing The tourists, on a tour with UK company Travel Collection, were thought to have been panda watching at the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan province when the quake struck on Monday. A massive search and rescue operation is under way involving troops who have arrived at the epicentre in Sichuan which was largely cut off by China's worst earthquake since 1976.

Kuoni, the travel firm's parent company, said an operations team was trying to contact the missing group with help from the Foreign Office. "All lines of communication are down and as such no further information is known at this time," the firm said in a statement.

The Association of British Travel Agents said about 100 other British tourists in the region had been accounted for.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said last night: "There are no confirmed reports of any UK casualties at the moment. We are working round the clock to find those unaccounted for."