Snowstorm traps 1000 people on Slopes of Mount Everest. Image: BBC.
(The Post News)- Rescue operations are under way on the remote Tibetan slopes of Mount Everest where a powerful snowstorm has trapped close to 1,000 people in high-altitude camps. Mount Everest is the world’s highest peak at over 8,849m.
Chinese state media reported that many local villagers and emergency teams have been deployed to clear the snow blocking roads and trails leading to the camps, at an altitude of more than 4,900 metres (16,000 feet).
Rescuer from Mount Everest Reports The Weather is Not Normal
According to local media, about 350 people have been rescued and guided to safety in Qudang, a small township nearby. Chen Geshuang, who was rescured from the snowstorm and made it to Qudang said, “It was so wet and cold – hypothermia was a real risk.”
Geshuang added that, “The weather this year is not normal. The guide said he had ever encountered such weather in October. And it happened all too suddenly.”
Reports indicate that the heavy snowfall began on Friday evening and intensified on the eastern slopes of Mount Everest in Tibet, which is a popular destination for climbers and hikers.
According to Chinese state media, Tibet’s Blue Sky Rescue Team received an urgent call for help from the camps saying that several tents had collapsed under the weight of the snow, and that some hikers were already suffering from hypothermia.
The snowstorm comes after extreme weather conditions across the region. In neighbouring Nepal, heavy rains have triggered landslides and flash floods, killing at least 47 people in the past two days and washing away bridges and roads.
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