Chinese rescuers rushed on Monday to evacuate hundreds of hikers stranded on the easternmost mountain slope in the world, Mount Everest, after the strong snowfall covered the covered campsites over the weekend.
Almost 350 hikers have already traveled to a safe place at a meeting point in the small municipality of Qudang, according to the state station CCTV, with rescuers also in contact with the remaining more than 200 hikers who “gradually reach the appointment point.”
The local media initially reported that almost 1,000 people had been affected by the snowstorm. Local rescue officials were not immediately available to comment on the discrepancy in numbers.
No victims were reported, according to local media.
“Approximately one third of the walk, it began to rain and the rain became heavier,” said Chen Geshuang, a 28 -year -old astrophotographer who began climbing Saturday afternoon but decided to retire on Sunday, he told NBC News In an online video interview.
“Later, it became Aguanieve, and finally a full snowstorm.”
Some hikers took out the snow from their stores in the middle of the snowstorm, while others waded in a line through the snowstorm with little visibility, showed the videos of social networks verified by NBC News.
The hikers had been trapped at almost 16,000 feet, according to a report in Jimu News, which added that local villagers and rescue teams had been deployed to clear the roads blocked by snow.
With 29,000 feet, Mount Everest is considered the highest mountain in the world when measured from sea level.
The unusually intense snowfall began on Friday night and continued until Saturday in the Tingri County Gama Valley in the Tibet Autonomous Region, “interrupting the itineraries of some tourists who walk in the area,” said CCTV.
In a matter of hours, some of the Cen team exhibited signs of mild hypothermia and cold stress, he said. For Saturday night, the storm intensified with a ray almost every minute.
“It was a stressful night,” he said. “When we woke up this morning, snow was extremely deep, approximately one meter, reaching our thighs.”
The group decided to retire, arriving at the foot of the mountain on Sunday night. The neighboring Nepal was also beaten with heavy rains, where at least 44 people were killed with landslides and floods.
The severe climate event occurred when it was expected that more than 299 million people travel regionally on Sunday due to a national holiday that included China National Day last week and the mid -autumn festival on Monday, CCTV said in a separate report.
The sale of tickets and the entrance to the scenic area of Everest were suspended on Saturday night, according to warnings on the official Wechat accounts of the local Tourism Company of the Tining County.
Mount Everest is called Monte Qomolangma in Chinese, and extends along the edge of Tibet and Nepal, and the climbers of both countries try to climb the peak along different slopes.
While the Nepalese side has seen an boom in tourism related to Everest and significant investment, the Tibetan side is especially remote.
Reuters and Peter Guo contributed.
