BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland on Wednesday called on Taiwan to make every effort in their search for 20 mainland tourists missing on the island.

Yang Yi, the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman, said at a regular press conference here that he hoped the Taiwan authorities would properly handle the incident.

A tour group from south China's Guangdong Province has been out of contact since Oct. 21, after the group's bus was hit by Typhoon Megi-triggered landslides on the Suao-Hualien Highway on the island's east coast.

Despite a five-day search, tour group leader Tian Yuan, from Beijing, and 19 tourists remain missing.

The body of the bus's Taiwanese driver, Tsai Chih-ming, was found Tuesday.

Some 247 of the 269 mainland tourists stranded on the Suao-Hualien Highway have returned to the mainland. Another two are still being treated in Taiwan.

Yang called on Taiwanese authorities to draw lessons from the accident to improve security for mainland tourists in Taiwan.