The UB Post-Leading English News

 Two of those men, both animal herders aged 31 and 48, were found frozen to death in Gobi-Altai and Tov provinces respectfully; three others were residents of Ulaanbaatar. 98 people, who were missing, were found alive later, after 30 different emergency operations were deployed with over 210 rescue workers, 34 vehicles, and one helicopter.

Also, 2,222 sheep and goat were killed in the storm. The government classified the phenomenon as “highly severe”. Last Friday, the storm caused damage to the electricity transmission line from Ulaanbaatar’s Nalaikh District to Tov province’s Erdene soum. The damage caused an electricity outage in the Nalaikh mining village and residential areas near Terelj National Park.

The western provinces of Khovd, Bayankhongor and Gobi-Altai were hard hit by the sudden snow storm that snowed in more than 40 rural herder families and 34,000 animals. The total snowfall was measured to be 50-60 cm in average, reaching as high as one meter in some parts of Khovd province, thus preventing animals from going into their pasturelands.

Freight transportation and public transportation to the provincial centers of the Gobi and eastern regions have been resumed to normal operations, as of last Sunday.