BEIJING, Oct 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - One hiker died and hundreds of others were 
rescued after sudden heavy snowfall on the Tibetan Plateau and near Mount 
Everest on the Chinese side, state media and hikers reported on Monday.

A young hiker nicknamed FeiFei, who was evacuated on Monday, told AFP she was 
on a multi-day trek with three friends and a local guide in the Karma Valley 
at the foot of Everest in Tibet at an altitude of nearly 5,000 metres (16,400 
feet).

Heavy snowfall overnight Saturday to Sunday buried their camp.

"We had to constantly clear the snow from the tents, but I collapsed from 
exhaustion (...) and my tent got buried," said the young woman from eastern 
Jiangsu province.

She finally found refuge in another tent.

After two days of walking, during which "firefighters cleared the path using 
yaks and horses to clear the snow", the group returned to the rescue centre 
set up at the trailhead.

In the same valley, 350 other hikers had been rescued by Sunday evening, 
state broadcaster CCTV said.

But more than 200 others were still in high-altitude camps at that time.

FeiFei said she saw dozens of hikers along the way, some weakened by hunger 
or altitude, but none in critical condition.

Local authorities did not respond to AFP requests for information on the 
number of people still needing rescue.

In the mountains of neighbouring Qinghai province, a hiker died from 
hypothermia and altitude sickness, CCTV reported Monday.

More than 130 others were retrieved from the same region after hundreds of 
rescuers and two drones were deployed, it added.

Search efforts were ongoing to locate other hikers in the region, the report 
said, without specifying how many.

Outdoor enthusiasts have flocked to the country's famous beauty spots in 
recent days, taking advantage of an eight-day national holiday, but many have 
been caught out by unexpected extreme conditions.

Over the border in Nepal and India, landslides and floods triggered by heavy 
downpours have killed more than 70 people, officials said, as rescue workers 
struggled Monday to reach cut-off communities in remote mountainous terrain.