Published by: World Tibet Network News Monday, January 19, 1998

BEIJING, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Hundreds of animal herders and their families are missing in China's remote province of Qinghai, which has been hit by heavy snowfalls since September, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

A total of 217 families had been reported missing, the official news agency said, without mentioning the exact number of people involved or saying whether authorities believed they were missing or dead.

Some 7,300 herdsmen had been injured or had fallen ill as a result of blizzards and temperatures as low as minus 40 Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit).

Around 117,200 animals had perished.

Provincial authorities had sent 700 tonnes of relief goods, including food and medicines, to stricken areas and granted 5.0 million yuan ($602,410) in emergency aid. More than 1,000 troops had been despatched to the worst hit areas.

Xinhua also reported that 500 People's Liberation Army troops were involved in rescue work in neighbouring Tibet, the Chinese-ruled Himalayan region that has also been ravaged by cold weather.

Unusually early snow in the region has been blamed on the El Nino weather phenomenon, which has turned much of the world's weather upside down.

State media have not reported any deaths in Tibet.