The death toll from an avalanche in northwest China has risen to three with the discovery of another body on Sunday, but bad weather continues to hamper the search for 13 still missing.

The body was found at noon in near a shed and machine room, where rescuers had recovered the second body in the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili in northern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

However, the search was suspending when hail, sleet and heavy fog reduced visibility to less than two meters, said rescue officials.

It was feared that the rescue would trigger new avalanches as continuous sleet and hail had increased the amount of snow on the surrounding mountains.

Experts said the chances of survival for the missing, who had been buried under the snow for 70 hours, were very slim.

The avalanche occurred about three kilometers from a tunnel at a remote mountainous area known as "Guozigou" in Ili, 500 kilometers from Urumqi, the regional capital.

It occurred at around 10 a.m. on Thursday when five workers were in the tunnel, and a team about a kilometer away was en route to the site in Ili.

Six workers have been rescued.

Experts blamed deep snow, heavy wind, mechanical vibrations and a rapid temperature rise for the avalanche.

(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2008)