A rescue operation is under way to retrieve hundreds of people stranded after a blizzard near the Tibetan side of Mount Everest, according to Chinese state media.
Around 350 trekkers have been guided to safety and have reached the small township of Qudang after rescuers cleared access to their campsites, said Chinese Central Television (CCTV).
More than 200 other people who remained stranded close to the eastern Kangshung face of Everest were also in contact with rescuers and were due to arrive in Qudang in stages, it added.
Hundreds of local villagers and rescue teams had been sent to help clear snow blocking access to the area, which is at an altitude above 4,000 metres (16,000ft), according to state-backed Jimu News.
The organisation estimated that almost 1,000 people had originally been trapped after unusually heavy snowfall and rain struck the Himalayas on Friday and Saturday.
‘The weather this year is not normal’
October is a peak season, when skies usually clear at the end of the Indian monsoon.
“It was so wet and cold in the mountains, and hypothermia was a real risk,” said Chen Geshuang, who was part of an 18-strong trekking team that safely got to Qudang.
“The weather this year is not normal. The guide said he had never encountered such weather in October. And it happened all too suddenly.”
Eric Wen, another trekker who survived the ordeal, said: “It was raining and snowing every day, and we did not see Everest at all.”
He explained that he hardly slept in a crowded tent holding “more than 10 of us” because it was snowing so hard, the tent had to be cleared every 10 minutes to prevent a collapse.
Mr Wen added that three members of his 18-strong expedition party fell victim to hypothermia when the temperature slipped below freezing, but otherwise the group emerged largely unscathed.
The number of visitors to the remote valley of Karma, which leads to the Kangshung face, was in the hundreds this week, swelled by an eight-day national holiday in China.
It was not known if trekkers close to the north face of Everest, which is also in Tibet, had been affected by the blizzard.
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The north face attracts large numbers of visitors due to its easy access by paved road.
Landslides after heavy rainfall
To the south of Tibet in Nepal, at least 47 people have been killed since Friday after heavy rainfall triggered landslides and flash floods that have blocked roads and washed away bridges.
Thirty-five people died in separate landslides in the eastern Ilam district bordering India.
Nine people were reported missing after being swept away by floodwaters and three others were killed in lightning strikes elsewhere in the country.
