XINJIANGL: Following avalanches in China’s northwest Xinjiang region, over 1,000 visitors are still stuck in a secluded vacation village. Evacuation is complicated by unstable weather and meters-high snow, according to a state TV report on Tuesday.
For a number of days, avalanches had blocked road access to Hemu village, a picturesque location close to the borders of Kazakhstan, Russia, and Mongolia, where the tourists were stranded. The settlement is in the Altay Prefecture of Xinjiang, where there has been constant snowfall for the past ten days in certain places, according to the report.
Chinese official media channels claimed over the weekend that the heavy snowfall caused scores of avalanches over extensive stretches of highways in the Altay mountains heading to the Kanas beautiful area. Some tourists were rescued by helicopter.
According to CCTV, the snow caused by the avalanches reached heights of up to seven meters in certain areas, and in many cases, it was higher than snow removal machinery.
The 50-kilometer (31-mile) section of buried road is being cleared, and work began a week ago.
Rocks, debris, and tree branches mingled in with the snow, broken off as avalanches rushed down slopes of pine and birch forests towards a river valley, complicating the rescue and snow removal effort and rendering rotating snowplow trucks ineffective. Shovels and excavators have been used by rescuers.
The mountainous region has swift variations in weather, making it difficult to operate supply missions during some periods. According to CCTV, a military chopper that was supposed to deliver gasoline and flour to Hemu village on Tuesday morning was running late.
