Two Taiwanese tuberculosis patients who defied a travel ban and flew to eastern Chinese province have been located and are receiving treatment, media said Saturday.

The married couple, only identified as surnamed Lee, violated Taiwan regulations and flew from the southern Taiwan city Kaohsiung to Hong Kong, and then on to Nanjing a week ago.

The two, a 55-year-old man suffering from a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis and his 57-year-old wife who has standard tuberculosis and is infectious, were found by Jiangsu provincial health officials in the north of the province, Xinhua News Agency said.

Chou Chih-hao, a Taiwan health official, said the two went to visit their future daughter-in-law.

Chou said the patients told Taiwan physicians sent to track them that they did not have a fever and also wore face masks on the plane. The Lees said they had not been told they should not fly.

Chou said the Lees could be fined up to 300,000 New Taiwan dollars (US$10,000) when they return to Taiwan for ignoring the travel ban.

Hong Kong's health department said earlier it is tracking down passengers who sat near the infected couple and crew members, although it said the risk of TB transmission is low because the flight time was only three hours, shorter than the eight-hour threshold set by the World Health Organization.

The latest case echoes a similar one in the US earlier this year, when Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker caused an international health scare after he flew to Europe after he had been told he had a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis.

Health officials are wary of air travel by patients with infectious diseases after the experience of severe acute respiratory syndrome.