Nearly 90 tourists evacuated from Everest after heavy snowfall

LHASA, Tibet, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Dozens of tourists have been evacuated from Mount Everest in Tibet after heavy snows stranded them, local authorities say.

Officials said some 78 people unable to leave a base camp on the mountain have been moved to a local hotel, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

By Monday evening, eight people stranded at a monastery on Everest at an elevation of 16,700 feet had been evacuated,

the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region said.

Officials said more than 40 rescuers and machinery had been mobilized to clear a road blocked by a snowstorm.

The tourists included 13 foreigners.