Hundreds of hikers rescued from Mount Everest after severe snowstorm
Approximately 900 hikers, guides and other staff reached safety on Tuesday after being stranded on the Chinese side of Mount Everest by a severe weekend snowstorm.
A total of 580 hikers and more than 300 guides, yak herders and other workers were rescued, according to Chinese state-run media.
About 350 hikers were able to descend by noon local time Monday and the rest had arrived by Tuesday, state media said, citing the local government.
Some hikers reportedly had hypothermia, and about a dozen of them were escorted to a meeting point by teams with food, medicine, heating and oxygen supplies, Xinhua news agency reported.
A storm hit the area Saturday night, cutting off access to where hikers were staying in tents at an altitude of more than 4,900 metres.
It struck during a weeklong holiday that ends Wednesday. Many Chinese people travel at home and abroad during the celebration, which marks the anniversary of the start of Communist Party rule in China on 1 October 1949.
The scenic area at Mount Everest in China's Tibet region had been temporarily closed while rescue efforts were ongoing. The 8,850-metre peak, the world's highest, straddles the border with Nepal.
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