The two firms launched a cross-Straits emergency medical rescue service in June, shortly after the mainland's Cross-Straits Aviation Transport Exchange Council and the Taipei Airlines Association signed an agreement on the expansion of cross-Straits air services on June 14.

The agreement allows chartered flights for medical emergencies and where first aid is needed for the handicapped. Provision was also made for direct cargo flights carrying special equipment for Taiwan factories on the mainland on a case-by-case basis.

The first direct cargo charter flight landed in Shanghai in July, carrying equipment for a Taiwanese-invested chip factory there.

International SOS said it was preparing for a second charter flight for the emergency medical rescue of a dozen Taiwan tourists who were injured in a bus crash in Wangqing, near Yanbian in Northeast China's Jilin Province, on Monday.

"An Air China or Taiwan airliner will be used for the flight, that flight will probably take off in a week," He said. "We have to wait until the injured are in a stable condition."

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