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Illegal gold miners frozen to death in Xinjiang

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-24 16:18
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Illegal gold miners frozen to death in Xinjiang
A miner trapped in a blizzard is transported to safe place in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, January 21, 2010. [Xinhua]

BEIJING: Six men and a woman who had been illegally prospecting in remote mountains near the Mongolian border were frozen to death in a blizzard, Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.

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Fourteen others were rescued earlier this week after two out of the group of 23 managed to walk out and seek help. The group had been trapped by about 2 meters of snow in the Halahate mountains on Jan 13.

Rough bands of gold prospectors roam Xinjiang and  Tibet autonomous regions and other remote mountain areas, hoping to strike it rich. Their prospecting and mining can pollute mountain streams, but the remoteness of the areas means they are seldom policed.

Xinjiang, which borders Central Asia, is suffering from an unusually cold and snowy winter this year. Temperatures in some areas of northern Xinjiang have fallen to about minus 45 degrees Celsius (minus 49 Fahrenheit).
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