Thirty-three volunteers returned to Beijing Tuesday after collecting 10 tons garbage at Mount Qomolangma (Mt. Everest) in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

The volunteers from all over the country started cleaning the world's tallest mountain on May 25 at an altitude of 5,000 to 8, 000 meters. 

In ten days they collected 400 bags of garbage weighing 10 tons. The contents were mainly oxygen bottles, spirit stoves and tents discarded by climbers and the expeditions in recent years.

So far, about 1,600 people have scaled the 8848 meter peak. 200 have lost their lives in attempts to conquer it.

Mountaineers were the biggest contributors of garbage severely contaminating the area.  

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2005)