Photo taken by a mobile phone shows a Japanese tourist (C) being 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)
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)
Two survivors of a snowstorm that left three Japanese tourists dead in north China over the weekend were transferred to a county hospital on Tuesday for further examination, local authorities said.
The two people, including a 59-year-old Japanese woman and a 25-year-old Chinese man who works for a Japanese travel agency, are suffering from frostbite but are in stable condition, according to the government of Huailai county in north China's Hebei Province.
The bodies of the three dead were taken to the county funeral home Tuesday, local officials said.
County police received a report at 11:15 p.m. Saturday stating that five people had become trapped on the Great Wall near the village of Hengling after a strong snowstorm swept north Beijing and neighboring Hebei.
The county government immediately dispatched 40 people, including medical personnel, to search for the trapped.
Jing Qingyu, the county's Communist Party of China (CPC) chief, said 20 military personnel and four vehicles were dispatched early Sunday morning to aid in rescue efforts.
Rescuers found the two survivors Sunday. The bodies of the three deceased were retrieved Monday.
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.
Copyright ©1999-2011 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
