All 41 tourists, who were stranded after a blizzard on a highway in the Tibet Autonomous Prefecture of Deqen, southwest China's Yunnan Province, were rescued Saturday.

According to the sources, the tourists of six different tour groups, from Guangdong, Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai Municipality, were touring Lijiang, a city in Yunnan Province, during the Spring Festival holiday season.

They set out from Lijiang on Feb. 9 and headed for Weixi County across the Meili Snow-capped Mountain. Because the road collapsed following the heavy snow, the tourists had to abandon the bus and walk along the highway connecting Weixi and Deqen.

The heavy snow, which began on Feb. 13, also destroyed the local power grid that caused the telecom service in the region to fail. Being cut off with the rest of the world, the tourists were stranded in Baijixun township of Weixi County. They risked starvation.

Being informed of the emergency on Friday, the tourism bureau of Weixi County sent personnel and mobilized villagers to rescue the stranded tourists. By Saturday, all except one of the tourists were rescued uninjured.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2005)