BEIJING (AP) — About 900 hikers, guides and other staff who were stranded by a weekend snowstorm on the Chinese side of Mount Everest have reached safety, state media said late Tuesday.
A severe storm struck the area Saturday night, cutting off access to where the hikers were staying in tents at an altitude of more than 4,900 meters (16,000 feet).
In all, 580 hikers and more than 300 guides, yak herders and other workers were stranded. About 350 hikers were able to descend by noon Monday and the rest had arrived by Tuesday, state media said, citing the local government.
Some hikers reportedly had hypothermia, and the official Xinhua News Agency said about a dozen of them were escorted to a meeting point by teams with food, medicine, heating and oxygen supplies.
The scenic area at Mount Everest has been temporarily closed. The storm struck during a weeklong national holiday that ends Wednesday.
In neighboring Nepal, a South Korean climber died in a weekend storm near the summit of Mera Peak, a 6,476-meter (21,250-foot) Himalayan mountain south of Everest.
