Hundreds of mountaineers who have been stuck in blizzard near the eastern side of Mount Everest on Tibet, lifeguards were reported to certainly Chinese state media, while unusually strong snow and rain affected Himalayas.
Until Sunday, 350 mountaineers arrived in a small village of Qdantang, while contact with more than 200 remaining mountaineers was established, CCTV reported, Reuters reports.
Hundreds of visitors stay in the remote valley of Karma, which leads to the east side of Everest Kangshung, using an eight-day holiday on the occasion of Statehood Day in China.
“It was so wet and cold in the mountains, hypothermia was a real threat,” Chen Geshuang said, a team member of 18 mountaineers who reached the Qdantang.
“The time this year is not normal. The guide said he had never experienced such weather conditions in October. Everything happened too suddenly,” she said.
The Chen’s group descended from the mountain on Sunday, where they were greeted by locals after a heavy night marked by strong snow, thunder and lightning.
The action of removing snow
Hundreds of local locals and rescue teams are engaged to remove snow that blocked access to the area, where according to the earlier report, almost 1,000 people were captured according to the earlier report. The remaining mountaineers will arrive in the phases in Qudang with the help of rescue organized by the local government, cited by CCTV.
Snow in the valley, which is at an average elevation of 4,200 meters, began to fall on Friday night and continued during the Sabbath.
“Rain and snow fell every day, we didn’t see Everest at all,” Eric Wen said, who survived this situation.
His group of 18 mountaineers decided on Saturday night back from the fifth and last camp, worried about the continuous snow.
“We only had a few tents. More than 10 of us were in a big tent and we barely slept,” Wen told Reuters on Monday.
Wen stated that they had to clean the snow every 10 minutes.
“Otherwise, the tents would collapse our tents,” he added.
Everest access is suspended
“Two men and one woman in the group suffered hypothermia when the temperature fell below zero, although they were adequately trained,” Wen said. Nevertheless, his expedition was mostly passed without more severe consequences, including eight guides and several others who took care of the wiring equipment.
The valley of Karma, which Western passengers first investigated a century ago, is the relatively untouched part of the Everest region. Unlike the dry north side of the top, the valley abounds in lush vegetation and untouched forests, which feeds on water from the glacier Kangshung at the foot of the highest mountain top in the world. It is not known whether the mountaineers near the northern parties were affected.
The north side, due to a light approach asphalt, regularly attracts a large number of tourists. October is the highlight of the season, when the sky is usually brightened after the Indian monsoon. Ticket sales and access to the entire panoramic field of Everest are suspended from Saturday night.
South of Tibet, in Nepal, heavy rain caused landslides and torrent floods that blocked roads, took bridges and killed at least 47 people from Friday. Thirty-five people were killed in separate landslides in the eastern district of Ilam, which borders India. Nine people were reported as disappeared after taking them a torrent, and three more killed from thunder hit.
(Type / Source: FENA / PHOTO: BBC)
