INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Rescuers in Tibet have found eight more bodies, increasing the death toll to 28 following an avalanche that buried multiple automobiles in
deep snow and ice on a section of road connected to a highway tunnel.Chinese state media reported late on Friday that rescue workers had
uncovered the 8 bodies, digging by hand and with mechanical diggers to locate the cars buried in the avalanche, which took place at about
8pm (12:00 GMT) on Tuesday
It had hit a roadway and highway tunnel connecting the city of Nyingchi in Tibets southwest with removed Medog county.Earlier on Friday, 20
individuals had been confirmed killed and 8 were still missing out on, according to the state-run Global Times news outlet
Chinas state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that 53 people were saved after the avalanche, with five of the survivors seriously
injured.Authorities said the search and rescue operation has actually been mainly finished, the news outlet reported.The avalanche struck an
area of road in between Pai town in Mainling county and the Doxong La tunnel in Medog county.A regional villager informed the Global Times
that most of those travelling on the road at the time of the accident were Tibetan individuals returning to their home towns for the Lunar
New Year, which begins on Sunday.Rescue workers reported that lorries were squashed under the weight of tonnes of snow and ice that
collapsed at the mouth of the tunnel, trapping motorists in their vehicles.Nyingchi lies at an elevation of about 3,040 metres (9,974 feet)
and is about 5 hours drive from the regional capital, Lhasa, along a highway opened in 2018
Night-time temperature levels throughout winter regularly drop to well listed below freezing.Chinese authorities say some 1,000 rescue
employees and dozens of emergency situation vehicles have actually been released to the site of the disaster
The snow was so deep it was as high as to individualss waist, and the road is very slippery
Numerous rescue employees stumbled all the method there, a local health centre employee said, according to the Global Times.Avalanches are
not unusual in the Himalayas
Last October, a minimum of 26 individuals died when a mountaineering expedition was caught in an avalanche on Mount Draupadi ka Danda-II in
Indias northern state of Uttarakhand.Source - Al Jazeera- With input from companies
