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At least one hiker died Rescuers race against time to evacuate more than 200 others stranded on East Face of Mount Everest after being trapped by a heavy blizzard during ChinaThe most popular holiday is the weekend.
Some 350 others have been rescued and rescued in the small town of Kwadang, about 48 km from Base Camp on the Tibetan side of Everest, said Chinese officials who control the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Hundreds of hikers were stranded at an altitude of more than 4,900 meters after they were hit by heavy snowfall on Friday and Saturday. Mount Everest is approximately 8,850 meters tall.
More than 200 remaining trekkers are being evacuated, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday. The evacuation began on Monday and should be completed by Tuesday, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
Rescue teams, including Chinese officials and villagers, are battling deep snow and limited visibility to rescue stranded trekkers. A video shot by a villager showed a long line of people accompanied by horses and oxen, moving down a winding path in the snow.
A young hiker, who has not been named, said she was on a multi-day trek with three friends and a local guide in the Karma Valley when heavy snow buried their camp on Saturday night. “We had to constantly clear snow from the tent, but I collapsed from exhaustion and my tent was buried,” he told the AFP news agency after being brought to safety on Monday.
He said that after two days of walking, during which “fire fighting Using yaks and horses to clear the snow, the group returned to the rescue center. On the way down, Feifei saw dozens of hikers on the trail, weakened by hunger or altitude.
However, she said no one appeared to be in serious condition.
According to reports, the 46-year-old South Korean national died while climbing Mera Peak, about 31 km south of Mount Everest in the eastern part of Nepal.
Nepal National Mountain Guides Association president Tul Singh Gurung said the trekker’s body was recovered by a rescue helicopter, while Sherpa, who was climbing with the Korean national, was rescued from a height of 5,800 metres.
Mr Gurung was quoted chosun daily Are saying.
Other trekkers described suffering from hypothermia after being buried in dense snow. Hiker Eric Wayne told Reuters that three people in his group got hypothermia even with adequate clothing.
He said the group had to clear snow every 10 minutes at night, “otherwise our tents would have collapsed”.
Chen Geshuang, who was part of an 18-strong team that was evacuated safely, said: “It all happened suddenly.”
“We are all experienced hikers,” Ms Chen, 29, told BBC News. “But this blizzard was still extremely difficult to deal with. I was very lucky to get out.”
“A lot of people come here to hike during Golden Week, but this year’s snow was extraordinary,” she said. His guide also said that such weather was highly unusual on the eastern slope of Everest, he said.
On the Qilian Mountains on the border of western Qingxi and Gansu provinces, at least one trekker who was trapped in a gully by an avalanche died, while 137 others were evacuated, the state-run Beijing News reported.
Trekkers to Karma Valley, which leads to the eastern face of Everest, Kangshang, swelled by the hundreds of thousands in recent days, coinciding with the eight-day National Day holiday in China.
Karma Valley, first discovered by Western travelers a century ago, is a relatively ancient part of the Everest region. In contrast to the peak’s arid north face, it boasts lush vegetation and untouched alpine forests, fed by meltwaters from the Kangshang Glacier at the foot of the world’s highest mountain.
Mount Everest, known as Mount QOMOLANGMA in Chinese, straddles the border between China and Nepal, where recent heavy rain More than 40 people have died.
Climbers attempt to scale the world’s highest peak from base camps in both countries. The base camp for climbers is separate from the tourist camp where hikers were trapped by snowfall.