A seven-member Chinese mountaineering team was stranded in an Indonesian virgin forest yesterday after falling out with their guides.

They were returning to their camp after climbing Puncak Jaya - the tallest mountain in the country - in the eastern-most province of Papua.

The seven, four of whom are members of China's Amateur Mountaineering Team, had a disagreement with the guides - for reasons not yet known - and were not allowed to go near their village, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The trapped people include Wang Qiuyang, CEO of Beijing Antaeus Group; Sun Mian, head of New Weekly magazine; Sun Bin, former coach of the Chinese Mountaineering Team; and Liu Jian, a reporter with West China Metropolis Daily.

Their food supply is limited and will only last a few days, said Xinhua.

Hua Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Jakarta told China Daily that every effort was being made to rescue the team.

"As far as I know they do not face immediate danger."

The Chinese Mountaineering Association told China Daily that it hoped to enlist the aid of an American mining company, located in the forest, in rescue efforts.

The team called Beijing on a satellite phone, whose battery was running out, around noon yesterday to say that they were waiting to be rescued. They left Beijing on Jan 24 and reached the peak of Puncak Jaya - the highest island peak in the world - on Tuesday.