China ends rescue mission as Tibet avalanche toll reaches 28

Search and rescue operations after a devastating avalanche that engulfed travellers on a Tibetan highway in the city of Nyingchi have ended, Chinese state media reported, with the death toll now at 28.

The snowslide occurred on Tuesday evening at the exit of a mountain tunnel in southeastern Tibet, trapping a number of people in their vehicles.

China's Ministry of Emergency Management sent a disaster response team to the region the following day.

The death toll from the incident had risen to 28, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday.

"The search and rescue operation came to an end at 5:30 pm Friday," Xinhua said citing rescue authorities who said 53 people were rescued. 

READ MORE: China races to find survivors of avalanche in 'Switzerland of Tibet'

Powerful winds, rising temperatures 

The avalanche at the Duoxiongla Tunnel was "triggered by powerful winds and rising temperatures on Tuesday," experts from the local emergency rescue headquarters told Xinhua.

Images from the scene at the exit of the tunnel connecting the city of Nyingchi in Tibet’s southwest with an outlying county showed about half a dozen backhoes digging through deep snow.

The report said more than 1,300 rescuers had joined the effort.

Nyingchi lies at an elevation of nearly 3,048 metres, about a five-hour drive from the regional capital, Lhasa, along a highway that opened in 2018.

Avalanches are common in the Himalayas, home to the world's highest mountains.

In October, at least 26 people died when a mountaineering expedition was caught in an avalanche on Mount Draupadi ka Danda-II in India's northern state of Uttarakhand.