A woman died in an ambulance yesterday morning after being rescued from an avalanche that killed one male tourist at the scene and injured six others in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

 

Local police have confirmed the 33-year-old woman and the dead man are both from the eastern Jiangsu Province.

 

Four of the injured, including a seriously-injured, have been transferred to the provincial capital of Kunming by chartered flight, while the rest two stay in the hospital in Deqin, where the accident happened, Chen Qun, a local tourism official, said last night.

 

Chen said all the injured are in stable condition.

 

The bodies of the two dead have been kept at the Lijiang Funeral Home and their families are expected to arrive today to deal with the aftermath, according to Chen.

 

The avalanche occurred at about 3:00 PM on Wednesday on the Meili Snow Mountain, about 10 km northeast of Deqin County in the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

 

Almost 700 people, including police officers, armed soldiers, medical workers and tourism officials, were mobilized for rescue operation.

 

Meili Snow Mountain, about 800 km northwest of Kunming, is a popular scenic spot on the boundary of Yunnan and the Tibet Autonomous Region.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2007)