BEIJING, Jan 27 (Reuter) - China has sent air force search aircraft to the northwestern province of Qinghai to hunt for cattle herders trapped by weeks of blizzards and sub-zero temperatures, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

It quoted rescue officials as saying the aircraft would on Sunday airlift tonnes of food, fuel, medicine to the storm-hit areas in Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture, where temperatures have plunged as low as minus 40C (minus 40F) and snow was one metre (about three feet) deep.

An estimated 1,100 herdsmen were snowed in and more than 278,000 cattle had perished since the worst blizzards in 40 years began in October, Xinhua said. It also reported 5,100 cases of frostbite among residents of the region.

Rescue officials said they had managed to move around 50,000 herdsmen and millions of domestic animals to safer places, the agency added.

REUTER