Stuck but no panic

They were stuck in thick snow in China, perched on a narrow mountain pass lashed by strong winds.

Even after rescue personnel arrived 45 minutes later, it was a struggle to get them moving again.

Some of the 100 or so Singaporean tourists stuck in three buses on their way to Mount Wutai were worried and called the Singapore embassy in Beijing, The New Paper understands.

But they did not panic.

The passengers, mostly in their 50s and 60s, included veteran TV actress Lin Mei Jiao.

The incident happened between 3pm and 4pm on Sunday, in northern China's Shanxi province.

The three buses were just 15 minutes from Wanfo Temple, a Buddhist shrine where the tourists were going to seek blessings, said tour leader Eric Yong. He was leading the eight-day tour under the CTC Travel agency.

He is still with the tour group which will visit places like Taiyuan, Shanxi's capital, and Pingyao, a county in the province, before returning to Singapore on Friday.

The marketing manager for CTC said that although all three buses did not make it to Wanfo Temple, only one bus was affected by the snow.

That bus was stalled because strong winds blew snow from a surrounding mountain onto the vehicle while it was stationary, said Mr Yong.

"We had to stop and wait because two cars in front of the bus got stuck due to the snow.

"The road was narrow, and it was not possible to overtake them," explained the 45-year-old guide, who has been in this industry for 10 years.

While the bus was at a standstill, snow collected around its tyres, making it impossible for it to start moving again, he said.

The wheels were covered in snow about 30cm thick.

Dangerous

China News Agency had reported that the situation was precarious as the buses were close to the edge of the mountain road, with visibility down to less than 10m.

Seeing that it was getting late, Mr Yong dialled local emergency number 110, and waited for the police to come to their aid.

They waited about 45 minutes before officers arrived.

The officers had to make their way to the tourists largely on foot, as the mountain road was slippery and exposed to powerful winds.

At first, firefighters spread sand and stone under the wheels in an attempt to free them.

When this did not work, they used axes and shovels to clear snow from under the tyres.

Later, a forklift was used to tow the coaches out of the snow.

The coaches took tourists back to their hotel between 6pm and 7pm, said Mr Yong, who added that none of them were injured.

Senior manager at CTC Sherry Wang, who is in charge of the company's China tours, said they checked the weather forecast before the team made the trip after lunch that day.

While most of the tourists were cooperative and understanding of the situation, there were a few anxious ones, said Mr Yong.

A tourist said the situation was calm while they remained stuck.

"We were safe and informed of what was happening, so I wasn't worried. It wasn't cold because we were in the bus and had winter clothing," said the administrator in her 40s, who wanted to be known only as Ms Keng.

"Instead, it was a rather fresh experience, and not something that would deter me from returning to Shanxi in future."

Yesterday, the tourists made a second trip to Mount Wutai in clear weather.

The mountain, which has more than 40 sacred monasteries, was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2009.

Mount Wutai, literally, "the five terrace mountain", is the highest in northern China, with an altitude of more than 3,000m.

benitaay@sph.com.sg

This article was published on May 14 in The New Paper.

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