BEIJING -- The Chinese mainland and Taiwan should improve the mechanism for ensuring the safety of tourists, issuing early warnings for and handling emergencies, and conducting regular evaluations of the tourism safety situation, a mainland official said on Wednesday.

Fan Liqing, a spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the statement at a press conference here.

On April 27, a train overturned at Alishan, a tourism attraction in Taiwan, killing five mainland tourists and injuring 109 other visitors from the mainland.

Fan expressed the hope that relevant department in Taiwan would strengthen its tourism safety management and the early warning of emergencies.

She said the handling of the accident's aftermath and settling the victims' insurance claims went smoothly.

Currently, both sides are negotiating allowing individuals from the mainland to travel to the island, Fan said, adding that safety measures were a key point in the negotiations.

At present, mainland tourists are only allowed to visit the island on tour packages. Individuals may be allowed to travel to the island as soon as next month if negotiations proceed well.