1,000 Tourists Stranded In Remote China Village Due To Avalanches

Road access to China's Hemu village, a scenic destination near the borders of Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, has been cut off by avalanches for several days now.

Around 1,000 tourists remain stranded in a remote holiday village after avalanches hit China's northwestern Xinjiang region with metres-high snow and fickle weather impeding evacuation, state TV reported on Tuesday.

Road access to Hemu village, a scenic destination near the borders of Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia where the tourists were trapped, has been cut off by avalanches for several days now. The village is situated in Xinjiang's Altay Prefecture where continuous snowfall in some areas has lasted 10 days, it said.

The heavy snowfall triggered dozens of avalanches along large sections of highways in the Altay mountains leading to the Kanas scenic area, and some tourists were lifted by helicopter to safety, Chinese state media outlets reported over the weekend.