BEIJING (AP) – Rescuers have helped hundreds of hikers trapped in heavy snow at a tourist campsite on the slopes of Mount Everest in Tibet, Chinese state media said.
About 350 hikers reached the meeting point in Tingri Country, and rescuers were in contact with another 200 people, state broadcaster CCTV said late Sunday. There were no immediate updates on rescue operations on Monday.
According to a previous report from the Chinese online site Jimu News, the hikers were trapped at an altitude of over 4,900 meters (16,000 feet). Mount Everest is approximately 8,850 meters (29,000 feet).
The hiker, who rushed down before the snow got clogged, told Jim News that the snow had told him that the snow still crushed the tent at a depth of 1 meter (3 feet).
Hundreds of rescuers climbed the mountains Sunday, passing the trail, allowing trapped people to descend, Jim’s report said. Videos shot by villagers showed long-time people with horses and cows moving their winding paths in the snow.
The blizzard hit a week of public holidays in China, where many travel to their homes and abroad.
In another mountainous region in western China, one hiker died of hypothermia and severe illness, and 137 people were evacuated in northern Qingdao Province, CCTV said Monday.
A search in the Menuan County area, which is an average altitude of 4,000 meters (13,100 feet), has been complicated by terrain, unpredictable weather and continuous snowfall, the CCTV online report said.
Mount Everest, known in Chinese as Mount Qomolangma, spans the border between China and Nepal, with more than 40 people killed in recent heavy rains.
Climbers will seek to expand the highest peak in the world from base camps in both countries. Base camps for climbers are separate from tourist camps where hikers were trapped in snowfall.
In January, at least 126 people were killed in the same area.
The Chinese side of Everest is in Tibet. Tibet is Tibet, where the government has cracked down on its objections and poured funds for economic development, such as roads and tourism.
The Dalai Lama, a spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism, fled while living in India, where the uprising in 1959 failed and some Tibetans founded a government in exile.
