North China blizzard kills third Japanese

Authorities struggle to reopen closed highways in North China

The body of a third Japanese tourist was retrieved on Monday after a group of six people disappeared on a snow-covered mountain in North China's Hebei province.

Rescuers retrieved the body of 76-year-old male tourist Shunichiro Yanai at a mountain in Huailai county on Monday afternoon, Xinhua News Agency reported.

On Sunday night, China News Service reported, citing sources at the county's publicity bureau, that three of the Japanese tourists had died.

Heavy snowfall hit parts of North China on Sunday, bringing temperatures down by as much as 14 degrees to below zero in some areas.

Yanai was stranded in the blizzard at an undeveloped mountain area with three other Japanese citizens, a Chinese tour guide, and a local guide after touring an unrestored section of the Great Wall on Saturday night. The local guide who was with the group left to get help, and didn't suffer any injuries.

Earlier, two female Japanese tourists, aged 62 and 68, died before rescuers could get to them on Sunday.

The other Japanese citizen, who is 59, and 25-year-old Chinese citizen Ming Pingming - who studied in Japan and is now a tour guide in a Japanese travel agency - survived with only minor injuries.

The two were close to recovery on Monday, said Li Jingbo, a spokesman for the Huailai county government.

Heavy snow on the road leading to the village located close to the mountain areas, and the fact that there are barely any roads on the mountain, made the search and rescue operations difficult.

Authorities had increased the number of rescuers from 260 to 400 on Monday to speed up the rescue operations.

"Many rescuers were exhausted before they reached the area where the missing man was. They risked their lives as well," Li said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a news conference on Monday that Chinese authorities will continue to follow the case closely, provide treatment to the injured, and handle follow-up matters for the victims.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said that Japan is grateful for China's efforts in the incident.

Meanwhile, authorities are racing against time to restore highway sections that were closed after the blizzard over the weekend.

As of Monday, at least 10 highway sections in Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region remained closed.

The road heading to Beijing of the Beijing-Lhasa Expressway opened on Monday afternoon after being closed because of the heavy snowfall, although the road heading to Tibet remained closed, the Beijing Municipal Transport Commission said.

The snowfall that nearly paralyzed Yanqing county in the northwest part of Beijing was the county's largest in 52 years. It caused power outages in 57 villages, brought down thousands of trees, and killed a large number of animals in chicken and pig farms.

The cold front that hit some areas of the country over the weekend is expected to continue to bring heavy snowfall to parts of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in Northeast China in the next three days.