Scientific expedition team trapped on island in Tibet

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 25, 2003

Scientific expedition team trapped on island in Tibet

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A 16-member scientific expedition has been trapped since Saturday morning on an isolated island in ariver that runs between Gerze and Rutog, two sparsely populated counties in the west of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

The expedition team, consisting of 13 journalists, one guide and two drivers, set off in two trucks and three four wheel drive vehicles on Sept. 2.

Until Sept. 19, the team traversed three uninhabited areas of Lop Nur, the Altun Mountains and Hoh Xil.

When the team was passing through a river between a salt lake and Bairab Co Lake on the morning of Sept. 20, two trucks carrying supplies got stuck in the river. The team members tried but failed to get the trucks out of the river, said team leader Huang Nengde via a satellite phone. Huang is a journalist with Guiyang Evening News of southwest China's Guizhou Province.

The health of the team members has been deteriorating as a result of long hours spent outdoors, and six members have caught cold, said Huang.

The team has had to seek help from the military area command of northwest China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

The military sub-division stationed in Ngari Prefecture of Tibet has been assigned to rescue the stranded journalists. Rescue attempts will be complicated by harsh climatic conditions around military sent 31 soldiers to the island on the night of Sept. 21, carrying equipment including a tractor, two trucks, a water tanker, edible oil, foodstuffs and medicine.

Donmdan, deputy commander of Ngari Military Sub-Division, who leads the rescue group, said that they have been moving with great difficulty because of the tough terrain and a lack of oxygen in the rarefied air. The rescue group is still 120 km away from theisland.

Another rescue team consisting of public security officers and armed police from nearby Rutog County of Tibet is also heading for the island.

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