Rescuers have guided more than 350 people to safety after they were stranded by blizzard-like conditions on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest, Chinese state media reported on Sunday.
In total, more than 500 people were caught by surprise when unusually heavy snow and rainfall lashed them on the way in the Tingri region of Tibet, one of the main routes to ascend the world’s tallest mountain.
Those rescued on Sunday were taken to the small township of Qudang, on the Tibetan side of the peak, CCTV reported.
Some 200 trekkers who remained stranded in treacherous conditions as of Sunday were due to arrive in Qudang in stages under the guidance and assistance of rescuers organised by the local government, CCTV reported.
The CCTV report did not indicate whether local guides and support staff accompanying the trekking parties had been accounted for. It was also unclear if trekkers near the north face of Everest, also in Tibet, had been affected or not.
Heavy snowfall in the valley, which lies at an elevation averaging 4,200 metres (13,800 feet), began on Friday evening and persisted throughout Saturday.
Ticket sales and entry to the entire Everest Scenic Area were suspended from late Saturday, according to notices on the official WeChat accounts of the local Tingri County Tourism Company.
“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 made it 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,” Chen told the Reuters news agency.
In neighbouring Nepal, Sherpa communities have been adapting to increasingly unpredictable conditions as climate change contributes to more frequent and dramatic climate shifts in the Himalayas, posing risks to climbers and the Sherpa communities who work there.
In a situation update shared on Sunday, Nepal’s Tourism Board said that search and rescue operations were ongoing after the weather “improved significantly” across Nepal, with “clear skies in Kathmandu and many other parts of Nepal”.
The update came after heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods across Nepal, killing at least 47 people since Friday.
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.
The floods and landslides in the mountainous regions come as South Asian countries continue to battle ongoing floods, including in Pakistan, where some four million people have been affected.
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