Twenty people from South Africa, Britain and India were detained in China and some may face criminal charges after being accused of watching "propaganda videos", a charity said Wednesday.

Gift of the Givers, a disaster relief charity based in South Africa, said 20 tourists were held Friday at Ordos airport in China's Inner Mongolia region.

It said 10 were South Africans, nine British, and one an Indian national.

"No reasons were given for the arrest. The Chinese, now trying to find reasons for the detention suggested that some members were linked to a terror group," it added.

The organisation said Wednesday that six British members of the group had already left China, while five South Africans would return home tomorrow.

The nine others "are being held without charge at a detention centre on the accusation that they were watching propaganda videos", Gift of the Givers said on a Facebook page.

The South Africans included several doctors and relatives of prominent businessmen, the group said, adding that the travellers' planned 47-day tour of "ancient China" had gone "horribly wrong".

Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman told AFP the detainees were not directly connected with the charity, but a relative of one of those held had asked it to intervene.

The detentions come as China's ruling Communist party tightens control of foreign charities working in the country, and on any groups perceived as a political threat.

The South African families were considering appointing a Chinese human rights lawyer, Gift of the Givers said, adding: "Information received from China this morning is very disconcerting as we were told that many of the top human rights lawyers have been arrested by the Chinese government."

The public security ministry in Beijing did not respond to a request for comment by AFP.

Beijing recently extended a year-long nationwide crackdown on "terrorism" it declared after a series of violent assaults it blames on Islamist separatists from the mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang.

The ruling Communist party, suspicious of overseas groups, has in recent months tightened controls on foreign charities working in the country.

State-run media have accused some groups of attempting to foment revolution and overthrow the party.

A spokeswoman for the British embassy in Beijing said Wednesday that 11 British citizens had been held in northern China, two of whom held South African dual nationality.

"Six have been deported. The remainder are still detained," spokeswoman Anna Bradbury said, adding officials were seeking "further clarification" on the detentions.

South African foreign affairs ministry spokesman Nelson Kgwete told local television that the government had been informed "about the arrest of 10 South African citizens in China".

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