BEIJING - An avalanche has hit the Tibetan side of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, with rescue operations underway to save about 1,000 climbers trapped in the avalanche. The avalanche has blocked roads in the area, located at an altitude of more than 4,900 meters, and hundreds of local villagers and rescue teams have been deployed to clear them.
About 350 people have been rescued and safely transported to the small town of Kudang, according to reports.
“The snowfall started on Friday evening and intensified on the east side of Mount Everest in Tibet, which is a popular area for climbers. It was raining and snowing every day and we couldn’t see Everest at all,” said Eric Wen, part of a group of 18 climbers.
Frustrated by the continuous snowfall, the trekking team decided to turn back from their fifth and final campsite on Saturday night. “We only had a few tents. More than 10 of us were in a big tent and we barely slept. It was snowing so hard.”
Wen said his group had to clear the snow every 10 minutes. If they hadn’t, their tents would have been buried under the snow.
Wen said two men and a woman in his group were suffering from hypothermia. Although they were dressed appropriately, they could not escape hypothermia when the temperature dropped below zero during the blizzard.
Let us tell you that Mount Everest is called Mount Qomolangma in China and is the highest peak in the world at over 8,849 meters. Meanwhile, Typhoon Matmo, a typhoon of the 2025 Pacific typhoon season, hit the east coast of Xuwen County, Zhanjiang City, South China's Guangdong Province, on Sunday.
Local governments evacuated about 3,47,000 people from the southern provinces of Guangdong and Hainan ahead of the storm, which had maximum winds of 151 kilometers per hour.