Severe onset of winter: several deaths in Mongolia, traffic chaos in northern China

2023-11-06 11:02:00

In Mongolia, six women, a man and a 12-year-old boy died in the snowstorms on Sunday while looking for their herds, the Mongolian emergency authority said on Monday. Search parties found the bodies in the central provinces of Öwörchangai and Erdenesant in the country with 3.3 million inhabitants located between China and Russia. In northern China, the central weather agency predicted heavy snowstorms and issued the highest warning level for parts. The provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia were particularly affected. People should therefore spend as little time outdoors as possible. Meteorologists expected up to 30 centimeters of fresh snow locally.

Picture gallery: Severe onset of winter: several deaths in Mongolia, traffic chaos in northern China

(Photo: STR (AFP)) Bild 1/8

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China: Kindergartens and schools closed

Due to the heavy snowfall, kindergartens and schools in several districts in Heilongjiang’s provincial capital Harbin were canceled on Monday. About 24,000 workers were sent to clear snow on the streets of the city of about 5.2 million people, according to a report in the state-run China Daily newspaper. The airport there canceled dozens of flights. In other provinces, authorities closed highway entrances. In the capital Beijing, the authorities also turned up the heating a good week earlier than planned. In China there is otherwise a set start date from which the heaters in most residential buildings start to warm up.