A brutal blizzard struck Tibet and Nepal on Friday evening, stranding hundreds of hikers near the eastern face of Mount Everest. While 350 have reportedly been brought to safety, more than 200 are still awaiting rescue as of Monday morning.

Chinese state-backed news site Jimu News reported the hikers were trapped at an elevation of more than 16,000 feet (4,900 meters), according to the Associated Press . That’s nearly halfway up the 29,035 ft (8,850 m) peak. On Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV said rescue teams had made contact with the remaining 200 hikers and evacuated the others to the small township of Qudang, roughly 30 miles from Everest’s Tibet-side base camp, Reuters reported .

An earlier report by Jimu News stated that hundreds of local villagers and rescue teams were deployed

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