Beijing — Rescue employees have been serving to a whole lot of hikers trapped by heavy snow at vacationer campsites on a slope of Mount Everest in Tibet, Chinese language state media mentioned late Sunday.
About 350 hikers had reached a gathering level in Tingri nation and rescuers have been involved with one other 200, state broadcaster CCTV mentioned. There was no instant replace on rescue efforts on Monday.
The hikers have been trapped at an elevation of greater than 16,000 toes, based on an earlier report from Jimu Information, a Chinese language on-line website. Mount Everest is about 29,000 toes tall.
A hiker who rushed to descend earlier than snow blocked the best way informed Jimu Information that others nonetheless on the mountain informed him the snow was 3 toes deep and had crushed tents.
One other hiker who made it to security is quoted by the Reuters information company as saying, “It was so moist and chilly within the mountains, and hypothermia was an actual danger. The climate this yr shouldn’t be regular. The information mentioned he had by no means encountered such climate in October. And it occurred all too all of the sudden.”
Tons of of rescuers headed up the mountain Sunday to clear paths so trapped individuals might come down, the Jimu report mentioned. A video shot by a villager confirmed a protracted line of individuals with horses and oxen transferring up a winding path within the snow.
Geshuang Chen / Handout by way of Reuters 
The snowstorm struck throughout a weeklong nationwide vacation in China, when many journey at dwelling and overseas.
In one other mountainous area in western China, one hiker died of hypothermia and altitude illness and 137 others have been evacuated within the northern a part of Qinghai province, CCTV mentioned Monday.
The search in an space in Menyuan County with a median altitude of greater than 13,100 toes was being difficult by the terrain, unpredictable climate and steady snowfall, a CCTV on-line report mentioned.
Mount Everest, generally known as Mount Qomolangma in Chinese language, straddles the border between China and Nepal, the place latest heavy rains have wiped away villages and precipitated landslides, leaving greater than 40 individuals lifeless.
Climbers try and scale the world’s tallest peak from base camps in each international locations. The bottom camp for climbers is separate from the vacationer camp the place hikers have been trapped by the snowfall.
A robust earthquake killed at the very least 126 individuals in the identical space in January.
The Chinese language aspect of Everest is in Tibet, a distant western area the place the federal government has cracked down harshly on dissent and poured in funds for financial improvement together with roads and tourism.
The Dalai Lama, the religious chief of Tibetan Buddhism, fled throughout a failed rebellion in 1959 and lives in India, the place some Tibetans have arrange a authorities in exile.
