(Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-21 13:48

HOTAN, Xinjiang -- Rescuers found one more missing Russian tourist on Friday evening in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Rescuers found the first missing Russian tourist alive on Friday morning, a month after he disappeared with five companions on a canoeing trip in northwest China.

 

A missing Russian canoeist, identified as Alexander Zverev and escorted by rescuers, gets on a helicopter after being found alive on the banks of the upper reaches of the Yurungkax River in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Sept. 21, 2007. [Xinhua]

The man, identified as Alexander Zverev, was walking along the upper reaches of a section of the Yurungkax River, in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region when Chinese and Russian rescuers spotted him from the air.

A rescue helicopter picked him up at about 10:00 a.m. and transported him to nearby Hotan city.

Zverev had no belongings with him and his shoes were worn out, said Li Yongjun, a Chinese helicopter pilot in charge of the rescue operation.

"He kept walking back and forth on the aircraft and trying to talk. He appeared exhausted, but very excited," said Li.

The 35-year-old Russian tourist said that his traveling companions had been killed in two separate accidents, when their boats overturned, according to Russian media reports.

The first occurred on August 24, killing two men and the next on August 27 when another boat carrying four passengers, including Zverev, toppled, the reports said.

He said he lived in a cave for 20 days, using tree branches to keep warm. "Every evening I made a bed for myself from tree branches, tried not to get cold, to preserve heat to keep the body warm," he was quoted as saying.

The reports said that Zverev has told rescuers where the bodies were but that it would be difficult to reach the remote area.

Arriving at Hotan airport at 11:40 a.m., Zverev stepped down from the helicopter and hugged Russian rescuers.

The first survivor of the party found since the search was launched early this month is under close observation in Hotan People's Hospital.

"It is a miracle that Zverev managed to survive in an uninhabited mountainous area at an elevation of 4,000 meters," said Zhang Shaoyun, deputy chief of the local rescue headquarters.

A group of six Russians arrived at the upper reaches of the Yurungkax River on Kunlun Mountain of western Xinjiang on August 19 and planned to begin a rafting trip two days later. However, they failed to meet their Chinese interpreter in the southern city of Hotan on Sep. 2 as scheduled.

The bodies of three Russians, including a father and son, have been recovered. Medical experts said they had fallen into the river and drowned.

Rescuers are still searching for the other missing, particulaly around the area where Zverev was found according to clues he provided.

The search was suspended earlier this week due to persistent sandstorms.

Rescuers are now relying more on helicopters than ground searches.

Doctors said Zverev, weighing 58 kg, a full 24 kg less than a month ago, was suffering from dehydration and malnutrition.

"But his blood pressure, pulse and lungs appear perfectly normal," said Miao Xinrong, deputy president with the Hotan People's Hospital where Zverev is hospitalized, "his excrement contained green fibers, which indicates he might have eaten plants."