BEIJING — An avalanche in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region leaves about 1,000 tourists stranded in a remote holiday village after snow and volatile weather made evacuation difficult, state television reported Tuesday. Ta.
An avalanche has cut off the road to Hemu village, a scenic destination near the borders of Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, for several days, where the tourists were trapped. The village is located in Altai County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and some areas have been experiencing snow for 10 days.
Over the weekend, Chinese state media reported that heavy snowfall triggered dozens of avalanches along much of the main road in the Altai Mountains leading to the Kanas scenic area, and that some tourists were safely rescued by helicopter.
The snow brought by the avalanche reached heights of about 23 feet in some areas and was higher than snow removal equipment in many areas, CCTV said.
Work to remove 31 miles of buried road began a week ago.
Complicating rescue and snow-clearing operations, rotary snowplows were forced to shatter rocks, debris and tree branches mixed into the snow as the avalanche rolled down the slopes of pine and birch forests toward the river valley. is no longer useful. Rescuers used shovels and excavators.
Weather conditions change rapidly in mountainous regions, which limits the window in which resupply missions can be carried out. According to CCTV, a military helicopter scheduled to send supplies such as flour and fuel to the village of Hemu was delayed on Tuesday morning. The Altai Highway Administration announced that it had organized 53 personnel and 31 sets of machinery and equipment for rescue and rescue operations.
Zhao Jinsheng, director of the Road Management Bureau, told CCTV: “This avalanche situation is relatively special. We have seen snow this heavy before, but this is the first time avalanches have occurred so frequently.” he said.
Mr. Zhao said he expected snow removal operations to restore access to Hemu village to continue for some time, as a large amount of snow has accumulated on the last 4.5 miles of the road affected by the avalanche.