Fourteen Tibetan herdsmen, including a nine-day-old baby, were rescued on Tuesday after being trapped on a snow-covered mountain for 40 days in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

Dari County dispatched 13 rescuers to search for the herdsmen on the 5,000 meter Bayan Har Mountain after two of them managed to walk out on Monday afternoon to seek help.

The herdsmen were well except for a 63-year-old who suffered snow blindness, according to rescuers. The baby and his mother were sent to hospital for observation.

The herdsmen said they only had 10 kilograms of food stuff left and their fuel had almost run out. The three families had tents for shelter and were caught on the mountain when the snow started to fall.

Dari was one of the worst-hit areas in Qinghai in the prolonged snow that hit the area in January and February. The county reported 306 frostbitten herdsmen and 108 others who suffered snow blindness.

   

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2008)