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| Photo taken by a mobile phone shows a rescuer warming hands for a Japanese tourist after she was saved from a snowstorm in north China's Hebei Province, Nov. 4, 2012. Four Japanese tourists, accompanied by a Chinese tour guide, became trapped by a snowstorm on a snow-covered mountain in Hebei on Nov. 3. Three Japanese tourists who went missing have been confirmed dead, local authorities said Monday. (Xinhua/Gong Zhihong) |
Rescuers were hampered by deep snow on the road leading to the area where the five were trapped and failure to exactly locate them by telecommunications, said Wang Jianjun, deputy head of the county government.
The worst blizzard in 59 years dumped more than one meter deep of snow in the mountain. The temperature was as low as minus 9 degrees Celsius, with the wind speed of up 49 km per hour and visibility of less than 100 meters.
It took about 10 hours for rescuers to reach the trapped tourists from the nearest village over 10 km away, said Wang, adding that vehicles could only reach a village 25 km away.
"In some places, the rescuers had to crawl and in others rescuers were buried up to their necks as the snow were so deep. The trek was exhausting and even life-threatening." Wang said.
A total of 460 people, including police, soldiers and local villagers, were involved in the rescue operation and more than 10 suffered frostbite or other injuries as a result of exposure, said Wang.
Beijing and Hebei were hit by a blizzard over the weekend that brought record amounts of precipitation. Snow fell in Huailai for nearly 30 hours.
Landmark building should respect the public's feeling
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