Geraint Rowlands, 45 and Alex Gardener, 52, both from Mostyn, are due to arrive home on Saturday after enduring a nightmare week.

Nearly 15,000 people are known to have been killed in China's worst earthquake in 30 years, with another 26,000 still trapped in the rubble.

But Geraint and Alex managed to escape, leading friends to say: 'God must have been smiling on them'.

Friends and relatives have been in regular contact with the pair and have kept the Leader informed of their progress.

A close relative of Geraint said today: "It's surreal to think they were caught up in this and they just can't wait to get home now. I spoke to Geraint last night and had an email today. They are having a bit of trouble with flights but we're just happy they're both OK."

A friend of the pair, who has been working tirelessly to get the two men home, added: "I spoke to the Foreign Office on Monday when the quake happened to try to gain some contact with Geraint and Alex, but no-one could reach them.

"I called the Foreign Office again yesterday and they put me through to the consulate at the hotel. The problem was that the consulate is only open in office hours.

"This a national disaster and the Foreign Office should be doing something to help – they need to be shaken up.

"I have done all I can to get them home. Between the airline and myself we have managed to get them on a connecting flight to Beijing tomorrow, so hopefully they will be home in the next two days."

When the earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, hit on Monday, the men were sat in a cafe in the capital of Chengdu and at first thought the shaking ground under them was a heavy lorry passing.

They felt the tremors for three minutes and when they realised what was happening the two friends, who were holidaying in the provincial capital, ran outside and began filming on a camcorder.

Their dramatic footage shows terrified people running and screaming through streets, and buildings crumbling.

When they finally got back to their hotel, the security guard refused them entrance because of safety risks.

Geraint and Alex were left stranded, with no food, water or belongings.

They were finally found by a friend they had met the year before while on holiday in China. Expatriate Gordon Markdale from Prestatyn, a part-time English teacher in the Chinese province, took them in to his home in Chengdu which was luckily still standing after the quake.

Furniture shop worker Geraint and retired driver, Alex, had travelled to Yingxiu in Wenchuan county, the epicentre of the quake, two days previously and had returned from the trip early.

The city was one of the worst affected areas of China, where the death toll is estimated to reach more than 50,000 with emergency teams on the ground facing a race against time to save those alive but still trapped.

The Flintshire men were supposed to be returning to the UK on Tuesday May 14, but had become stuck in the Sichuan Province.

They are flying from Beijing to Seoul, then on to Paris and finally Manchester, and are due to arrive home on Saturday.