BEIJING, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - There was confusion on Friday concerning the fate of a group of Russian tourists thought to be missing in northwestern China.

The Xinhua news agency reported earlier on Friday that rescuers in the Xinjiang Province had been searching for the group since Tuesday in an area near the Kunlun Mountains following a report that one of them was ill.

"They are safe, they have been found," a source in the city administration of Hetian told a RIA Novosti correspondent, but his colleague, who apparently snatched the phone away from the speaker, said that they were "not authorized to disclose the information."

She refused to name herself, adding that "this is a very sensitive issue."

A regional security official, who earlier said that "the tourists' lives are out of danger," said no new information is currently available. He added that they were unable to contact the rescuers.

The head of the consular department of the Russian embassy in Beijing said neither Chinese police officials, nor the provincial foreign affairs department in Xinjiang had any information about the missing tourists.

"No one can officially confirm the information [about the missing tourists]," Leonid Ignatenko told RIA Novosti.

Earlier reports said search efforts had been complicated by poor weather, mountainous terrain and the lack of roads in the area.

The Kunlun is one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending more than 3,000 km. It runs westward along the northern part of the Tibetan plateau to form the border range of northern Tibet.

It was earlier said that tourists kept in contact with an interpreter via a satellite phone. The interpreter returned to the province's center Urumchi on September 15.