Great Wall blizzard kills three tourists

A Chinese man walks in the snow in Yanqing county near Beijing. A blizzard that hit the Great Wall has killed three tourists. Picture: AP Source: AP

THREE elderly Japanese tourists died after being trapped in sudden heavy snowstorms during a visit to the Great Wall of China, officials in Beijing and Tokyo said on Monday.

The bodies of two women, aged 62 and 68, were found on Sunday evening while the body of a 76-year-old man was retrieved on Monday afternoon.

The Japanese man, named by Chinese state media as Shunichiro Yanai, was found by rescuers searching a snow-covered mountain near the wall in the northern province of Hebei.

Another Japanese tourist and a Chinese guide who works for a Japanese tour agency were receiving medical treatment at a local clinic.

The Japanese foreign ministry confirmed the deaths but said it could not give names of the victims until families had been notified.

The group started to climb the mountain from the Beijing side as part of a tour of the Great Wall on Saturday morning, state news agency Xinhua said.

They were trapped overnight after reaching a mountainous region in Huailai county in Hebei.

Tour guide Ming Pingming said he stayed with Yanai until the Japanese tourist lost his pulse at 10 am Sunday, Xinhua reported.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said authorities would continue to follow the case closely, treat the injured and handle follow-up work related to the victims.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Japan was working with China and would provide all necessary assistance for Japanese nationals.

"We are grateful for the Chinese cooperation," he told reporters.

Heavy snowstorms swept across northern China over the weekend, with the most extreme weather hitting Beijing, Hebei and the Inner Mongolia region on Saturday night.

Beijing was forced to issue its second-highest blizzard alert on Sunday after the Chinese capital was hit by an unusually early snowstorm.

In the 24 hours until Sunday morning the city saw 5.8cm of precipitation - rain and snow combined - Xinhua said.

Hundreds of cars were stuck in the snow across China's capital over the weekend.

Authorities activated Beijing's public heating ahead of the planned November 15 date, the China Daily said.

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