<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Search and rescue operations after a devastating avalanche that engulfed travellers on a Tibetan highway have ended, Chinese state media reported, with the death toll now at 28.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The snowslide occurred Tuesday evening at the exit of a mountain tunnel in southeastern Tibet, trapping a number of people in their vehicles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China's Ministry of Emergency Management sent a disaster response team to the region the following day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The death toll from the incident had risen to 28, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The search and rescue operation came to an end at 5:30 pm Friday," Xinhua said citing rescue authorities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The avalanche at the Duoxiongla Tunnel was "triggered by powerful winds and rising temperatures on Tuesday," experts from the local emergency rescue headquarters told Xinhua.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Avalanches are common in the Himalayas, home to the world's highest mountains.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In October, at least 26 people died when a mountaineering expedition was caught in an avalanche on Mount Draupadi ka Danda-II in India's northern state of Uttarakhand. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>