Tibet avalanche death toll rises to 28 as search for survivors ends in Lunar New Year homecoming tragedy

Name: Medical workers in Tibet ride horses to help remote herdsmen battle Covid-19
Uploaded: 2023-01-21T08:18:57.000Z
Duration: 1 min 7 s
Description: Medical workers in Tibet ride horses to help remote herdsmen battle Covid-19

All missing people accounted for, state media says, as warm weather and strong winds blamed after Himalayan snowslip buries holiday travellers

Most of the victims were local Tibetans heading home for the holidays, according to reports

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Mechanical diggers take part in the search for survivors following Tuesday’s avalanche in Nyingchi, Tibet. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Minnie Chan

Published: 4:18pm, 21 Jan 2023Updated: 4:38pm, 21 Jan 2023

The search for survivors from a deadly avalanche that engulfed a highway in the Tibetan Himalayas is almost at an end, with all the missing accounted for, Chinese state media reported, citing local authorities.

The death toll had risen to 28 with the recovery of eight more bodies on Friday, according to Xinhua news agency.

It said a 1,300-strong rescue team had been dispatched to the remote, high-altitude slopes after the massive avalanche on Tuesday evening trapped dozens of vehicles carrying travellers home for the Lunar New Year holiday.

An earlier Xinhua report said more than 50 people had been rescued, and five of them hospitalised with serious injuries.

Almost all the deaths were caused by hypothermia and a lack of oxygen, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Strong winds and unseasonably warm weather had triggered the snowslip in the steep slopes 4,500 metres (14,764 feet) above sea level, both Xinhua and CCTV said, citing initial weather reports.

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Medical workers in Tibet ride horses to help remote herdsmen battle Covid-19

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