Landslide on China-Nepal highway leaves 150 vehicles stranded

A landslide hit a section of the China-Nepal highway in Tibet on Wednesday, leaving about 150 vehicles stranded, authorities reported.

More than 10,000 cubic meters of rock and mud roared down 50 meters on a mountain slope located about 1 km away from the China-Nepal border Friendship Bridge in Zham, Tibet Autonomous Region, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, said Zhang Min, an armed police official in charge of the highway's maintenance.

Zhang said more than 30 rescuers armed with heavy machinery have been dispatched, but rescue work was hampered by the narrow road and the occurrence of other minor landslides.

No injuries have been reported.

China National Highway 318, linking Lhasa in Tibet with Kathmandu in Nepal, runs across the rough terrain of the Himalayan mountains. Natural disasters such as landslides frequently disrupt traffic here.