Hundreds of trekkers stranded by a powerful blizzard near the eastern face of Mount Everest in Tibet have been rescued and guided to safety, Chinese state media reported on Sunday, as unusually heavy snow and rain battered the Himalayan region.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, at least 350 trekkers have safely reached the township of Qudang, while contact has been established with more than 200 others still making their way down under the guidance of rescuers.
Local authorities have mobilized hundreds of villagers and emergency teams to clear snow-blocked trails and roads in the remote Karma Valley, where nearly 1,000 trekkers were initially trapped.
“It was so wet and cold in the mountains, and hypothermia was a real risk,” said Chen Geshuang, a member of an 18-person trekking team that made it to Qudang after a harrowing night in the blizzard.
“The weather this year is not normal. The guide said he had never encountered such weather in October, and it happened all too suddenly.”
Chen’s group endured heavy snowfall, thunder, and lightning before descending to safety. “Back in the village, we had a meal and were finally warm,” she said tearfully, describing how locals greeted the exhausted trekkers with sweet tea and blankets.
Snow began falling in the Karma Valley, which sits at an average altitude of 4,200 meters (13,800 feet), on Friday evening and continued relentlessly through Saturday, trapping groups of holiday trekkers taking advantage of China’s eight-day National Day break.
“It was snowing too hard. We hardly slept,” said Eric Wen, another trekker who survived the ordeal. “We had to clear the snow every 10 minutes or our tents would have collapsed.”
Wen said three members of his group, two men and a woman, suffered hypothermia as temperatures plunged below freezing, though all eventually survived.
The Karma Valley, located east of Everest and leading to the Kangshung face of the mountain, is one of the least explored yet most scenic parts of the region, known for its alpine forests and glacial rivers.
Its remoteness, however, made rescue operations difficult as snow blocked access routes and communications were disrupted.
Authorities have suspended ticket sales and entry to the Everest Scenic Area since late Saturday as extreme weather persists. It remains unclear whether climbers or tourists near the more accessible north face of Everest were affected.
Meanwhile, to the south in Nepal, the same weather system has brought widespread devastation.
Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods that have killed at least 47 people since Friday, most of them in the eastern Ilam district bordering India.
Dozens more remain missing as rescuers struggle to reach cut-off communities.
Meteorologists said the intense Himalayan storms, rare for October, were caused by lingering monsoon moisture colliding with a strong cold front, bringing one of the most severe early-winter weather events in recent years.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
