Armed police rescued 32 people who were left stranded on the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway by heavy snow, the local government said Wednesday.

 

The armed police, who are in charge of protecting the highway, said they received requests from the Pulan county government in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning to help rescue people and vehicles trapped on the highway's Pulan section.

 

The detachment immediately sent 25 policemen as well as a large amount of food, medicine and clothing to the section of the highway, which is about 5,100 meters above sea level.

 

The police worked for 14 hours to clear 15,000 cubic meters of snow from the highway,

 

Blizzards hit the Pulan section of Xinjiang-Tibet Highway on Monday morning. On Tuesday afternoon, the snow was 40 centimeters deep on the main part of the section, in some parts it was over one meter deep. The temperature also dropped to minus 30 degrees Celsius.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2006)