The discovery of another body raised the death toll to four from an avalanche in northwest China on Sunday afternoon, but bad weather continues to hamper the search for 12 still missing.

The fourth body was found in the afternoon near the wrecks of machine room, where rescuers had recovered the second and third body in the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili in northern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The survivor named Du Xueji, person in charge of the tunnel project, asked help right after the avalanche on Thursday, saying the three colleges working in the machine room probably could not escape.

Du has been proved right as rescuers have discovered three bodies according to his direction of finding the snow-buried machine room.

Experts said the chances of survival for the missing, who had been buried under the snow for five days, were very slim.

Snow storm has been hindering the rescue work since Sunday. New avalanches and mud-rock flows made the work simply tougher, rescuers said.

Heavy snow reduced the visibility to less than 50 meters here and is predicted to continue to Wednesday, rescuers said.

Rescuing should be interrupted in severe weather to avoid new casualties, said Zhang Yun, deputy Party chief of Ili, who is in charge of the rescuing work.

The avalanche occurred about three kilometers from a tunnel at a remote mountainous area known as "Guozigou" in Ili, 500 kilometers from Urumqi, the regional capital.

It occurred at around 10 a.m. on Thursday when five workers were in the tunnel, and a team about a kilometer away was en route to the site in Ili.

Six workers have been rescued.

Experts blamed deep snow, heavy wind, mechanical vibrations and a rapid temperature rise for the avalanche.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 18, 2008)