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Pingtan man escapes fatal avalanche on Mt Qomolangma

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2015-05-07

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A climber from Pingtan, Fujian province dodged an avalanche on Mount Qomolangma on April 26.

Xue Wei and his teammate were training on the north slope of the world’s highest mountain at about 6,900 meters on the afternoon, when they received an avalanche alert.

The avalanche was triggered by an 8.1-magnitude earthquake in Nepal which occurred at 14:11.

The climbers raced against time to return to their camp at 6,500 meters. They had planned to reach another camp at 7,028 meters.

“It was very dangerous. The avalanche was near our left side. We had to go right quickly to escape it. Fortunately all of us returned safe,” said Xue.

19 mountaineers were killed by the avalanche, according to a May 3 BBC report, and hundreds are still stranded on the mountain.

The earthquake claimed more than 7,200 lives in Nepal.