Police rescued more than 100 tourists trapped in buses during a heavy sandstorm in China's remote northwest, Xinhua news agency said on Monday.

The storm swept up the desert sands on Sunday in the Xinjiang autonomous region, leaving four buses stranded on a highway across the Gobi Desert near the oasis town of Turpan.

"Twenty-one officers ... rescued the Chinese and foreign tourists using military all-terrain vehicles," Xinhua said. "On their way to the site, they also rescued 11 villagers from the sandstorm."

North China is hit by sandstorms every spring. Neighboring South Korea suffered its worst "yellow dust" storm in four years at the weekend, hit by sands originating in the Gobi.