A total of 28 people were killed in an avalanche in Xi'an Autonomous Region ahead of the Lunar New Year, China's biggest holiday.
According to Chinese media Pengpai on the 21st (local time), the Xijiang Autonomous Region Emergency Command Headquarters announced that the number of avalanche deaths near a tunnel in Linzhi on the 17th was counted as 28 by 5:30 pm the previous day.
The local fire brigade confirmed that eight people were dead immediately after the accident, followed by a search operation to find the dead one after another.
Authorities said they were ending the search operation as they found all the missing persons.
On the 17th, around 7:50 pm, an avalanche occurred near the tunnel in Linzhi, and vehicles passing through this place were buried.
The accident area is very cold at an altitude of 3,040 m above sea level, and the victims seem to have died buried in snowdrifts.
(Photo = CCTV screen capture, Yonhap News)