On Monday, Chinese rescuers were trying to get hundreds of hikers off the eastern slope of Mount Everest, which is the world's highest ...
.jpg "A blizzard on Mount Everest has left more than 200 tourists still stuck.")
According to state broadcaster CCTV, almost 350 hikers have already made it to safety at a meeting point in the small township of Qudang. Rescuers are also in touch with more than 200 hikers who "will gradually arrive at the rendezvous point."
When the blizzard first hit, local news sites said that it had affected almost 1,000 people. Rescue workers in the area were not available right away to speak on the difference in numbers.
According to local news sources, no one was hurt. Astrophotographer Chen Geshuang, 28, started climbing on Saturday afternoon but chose to turn back on Sunday because of the rain. He told NBC News in an online video interview, "About a third of the way into the trek, it started to rain, and it kept getting heavier."
"Later, it snowed, and then it turned into a full-on blizzard." NBC News checked out videos on social media that showed walkers waded through the snow in a queue while others shovelled snow out of their tents in the middle of a blizzard.
It was reported in Jimu News that the hikers were trapped at almost 16,000 feet. The story also said that villagers and rescue teams had been sent to clear the snow-covered roads. The unusually heavy snowfall started Friday night and went on all day Saturday in the Gama Valley of Tingri county in Tibet's independent region. According to CCTV, this "messed up the plans of some tourists hiking in the area."
In just a few hours, Chen said, some of her team showed signs of light hypothermia and cold stress. By Saturday night, the storm was getting worse, and lightning struck almost every minute.
"That night was very scary," she said. "The snow was very deep when we woke up this morning—about 1 metre deep and up to our thighs." The group chose to go back, and by Sunday evening they were at the base of the mountain. Nepal, which is nearby, also got a lot of rain, and landslides and floods killed at least 44 people there.
TV station CCTV said in a separate report that the bad weather happened as more than 299 million people were planning to travel around the region on Sunday because of a week of national holidays, starting with China's National Day last week and ending with the Mid-Autumn Festival on Monday.
Notices on the official WeChat accounts of the local Tingri County Tourism Co. said that ticket sales and entry to the Everest Scenic Area were stopped late Saturday night.
At 29,000 feet, Mount Everest is called Mount Qomolangma in Chinese. It runs along the border between Tibet and Nepal, and hikers from both countries try to reach the top of the mountain from different directions. The Tibetan side is very far away, while the Nepalese side has seen a lot of tourists and investment linked to Everest.
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