A RESCUE team have finally reached the remaining 200 hikers stuck 16,000ft up Mount Everest after they were trapped in a savage snowstorm.
It comes after around 350 trekkers were brought to safety following intense snow and rainfall that pummelled the mountain from Friday to Saturday.
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The whole rescue operation is expected to be completed on Tuesday, though this has not been confirmed.
Those who have been rescued are sheltering in the small town of Qudang, which is about 30 miles from base camp on Everest’s Tibetan side.
Hiker Chen Geshuang, who was caught in the blizzard and rescued, said: “It was so wet and cold in the mountains, and hypothermia was a real risk.
“The weather this year is not normal. The guide said he had never encountered such weather in October. And it happened all too suddenly.”
Eric Wen, another trekker, added: “It was raining and snowing every day, and we did not see Everest at all.”
A third witness told BBC: “All of us are experienced hikers… But this blizzard was still extremely difficult to deal with. I was so lucky to get out.”
The freak blizzard struck on Friday evening before it raged through the night into Saturday – leaving hundreds of hikers stuck at choking altitudes.
Hundreds of local villagers and emergency workers were deployed to clear heaps of snow left by the extreme weather.
Local media initially reported that there were 1,000 stranded climbers – but Chinese state media said on Monday that 350 people had been evacuated while 200 remain trapped.
Treacherous conditions collapsed tents and saw climbers catch hypothermia from the freezing temperatures.
Hundreds were reportedly stuck in the Karma Valley, on Everest’s eastern slopes in Tibet.
Access to Everest Scenic Area has been suspended since Saturday due to the intense snow fall.
One person reportedly died in the wake of the sudden blizzard in China’s Qinghai province.
Local media reported that the mountaineer died from hypothermia and altitude sickness on Sunday in the Laohugou area.
Just across the border in Nepal, heavy rains have triggered landslides and flash floods.
The storms have sparked chaos, blocking roads and washing away bridges.
It’s not the first time intrepid hikers have been trapped up Everest.
In 2010, around 2,000 tourists and their porters spent five days stuck in a small village over 9,000 ft up a slope because of stormy conditions.
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