People stranded in train rescued after 25 hours in China

Updated at: 0937 PST, Tuesday, January 05, 2010

SHANGDU: More than 1,400 passengers were rescued on Monday (January 4), 20 hours after their train was trapped by a snow storm in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, state television (CCTV) reported.Train No. 1814, travelling from Harbin in northeastern Heilongjiang province to Baotao in Inner Mongolia, was stopped in Shangdu county by heavy snow on Sunday evening (January 3).All 15 carriages were partially buried by snow and doors were frozen. Local rescuers rushed to the site, and digged the train out by Monday evening, said CCTV.Snow was measured as deep as 3.1 metres in parts of Inner Mongolia. Another 12 trains were also reportedly stranded in the province, with thousands of passengers trapped and later rescued from the freezing temperatures as low as minus 34 degrees Celsius, according to state media.Bad weather affected large swathes of northern and northeastern China on Sunday, with snow and plunging temperatures expected to continue into the first full week of the new year, according to weather forecasts.