18 dead in Tibet from Himalayan earthquake
Landslides and bad weather hamper efforts to reach thousands affected in the quake zone
Saturday's powerful Himalayan quake killed at least 18 people and injured 55 in Tibet, local authorities said on Sunday.
More than 200,000 people were reported to have been affected by various levels of damage in Nyalam and Gyirong counties, which are about 40km from the border with Nepal, where the massive 7.8-magnitude quake killed more than 3,000 people.
The authorities evacuated 7,000 people from Nyalam and 5,000 from Gyirong shortly after the disaster, Xinhua reported.
In Gyirong, some 800km west of Lhasa , six people were killed and 17 injured in the quake, according to local rescue centres. At least four people, including a Nepalese national, were missing in Nyalam, Xinhua said.
More than 400 mountain climbers on the Tibetan side of Mount Qomolangma, as Mount Everest is known in Tibet, were reported to be "largely safe", despite big avalanches, according to rescuers.
"We were walking on a snowy slope when suddenly a crack opened, but fortunately we were able to skirt it," a mountain climber told Xinhua.
"We almost rolled down from 7,000 metres to reach a shelter at 6,500 metres."
