Storm strands tourists at Great Wall, killing 3

Many parts of North China were hit by heavy snowfall on Sunday, leaving cars stranded on highways and leading to the deaths of three tourists who were stranded overnight on the Great Wall.

According to the China Meteorological Administration, a vicious cold front was to continue hitting most parts of the capital on Sunday night, as well as the central and eastern parts of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and northern and western parts of Hebei province.

The weather earlier in the day and the previous night had turned deadly for one group of tourists.

Four Japanese travelers and one Chinese were trapped at an unrestored section of the Great Wall in Hebei's Huailai county on Saturday night, China News Service reported, quoting sources in the county's publicity bureau. A guide who was with the group left to get help, and three of the Japanese tourists died.

The two survivors were in a hospital on Sunday night and were in stable condition, Huailai authorities said.

In Beijing, the city's downtown was not greatly affected by the snow, but many of its expressways that connect it to other places were congested.

Badaling Expressway, a busy artery that runs toward Beijing's northwest, was closed for more than three hours on Sunday morning because of snow, the Beijing Municipal Transport Commission said.

About 1,000 vehicles were stuck on the road. In some places, the snow was 80 cm deep, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The same day, authorities raised a weather alert from blue to orange, indicating the second-most severe conditions in the four-level system. The alert remained at that level until 6 pm.

Hebei province has released a regional red alert, forecasting snow in the cities of Zhangjiakou, Chengde and Baoding from late Sunday night to Monday.

Rain, sleet and snow have been forecast until Tuesday in most parts of North China, as well as regions along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers, and some parts of Northeast China, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

On Sunday, Beijing's meteorological center also issued a red alert for certain parts of the city, warning residents to beware of a snowstorm and icy roads.

The capital saw its first winter snow late on Saturday. By 11 am Sunday, 56.6 mm of precipitation had fallen, said Sun Jisong, chief forecaster at the Beijing Municipal Meteorological Center.

In Haidian district's Fenghuangling area, as much as 96 mm fell over a period of about 40 hours.

From Saturday until Sunday, the Beijing Municipal Meteorological Center sent out more than 30 million warning messages about the weather to the public.

Sun said the rain and snow were expected to end late on Sunday.

Transport links throughout the capital and surrounding areas were affected by the bad weather.