Tibet snowstorm kills hiker as hundreds rescued near Mt Everest

A hiker died and hundreds were rescued after heavy snowfall on the Tibetan Plateau. Photo / FeiFei, AFP

A hiker has died and hundreds of others were rescued after sudden heavy snowfall on the Tibetan Plateau and near Mt Everest on the Chinese side, state media and hikers reported on Monday.

A young hiker nicknamed FeiFei, who was evacuated on Monday, told AFP she was on a multi-day trek with three friends and a local guide in the Karma Valley at the foot of Everest in Tibet at an altitude of nearly 5000m (16,400 feet).

Heavy snowfall overnight Saturday to Sunday buried their camp.

“We had to constantly clear the snow from the tents, but I collapsed from exhaustion (...) and my tent got buried,” said the young woman from eastern Jiangsu province.

She finally found refuge in another tent.

After two days of walking, during which “firefighters cleared the path using yaks and horses to clear the snow”, the group returned to the rescue centre set up at the trailhead.

In the same valley, 350 other hikers had been rescued by Sunday evening, state broadcaster CCTV said.

But more than 200 others were still in high-altitude camps at that time.

FeiFei said she saw dozens of hikers along the way, some weakened by hunger or altitude, but none in critical condition.

Local authorities did not respond to AFP requests for information on the number of people still needing rescue.

In the mountains of neighbouring Qinghai province, a hiker died from hypothermia and altitude sickness, CCTV reported Monday.

More than 130 others were retrieved from the same region after hundreds of rescuers and two drones were deployed, it added.

Search efforts were ongoing to locate other hikers in the region, the report said, without specifying how many.

Outdoor enthusiasts have flocked to the country’s famous beauty spots in recent days, taking advantage of an eight-day national holiday, but many have been caught out by unexpected extreme conditions.

Over the border in Nepal and India, landslides and floods triggered by heavy downpours have killed more than 70 people, officials said, as rescue workers struggled to reach cut-off communities in remote mountainous terrain.

– Agence France-Presse