17 mountaineers missing after going down from Mount Otgontenger in Mongolia

Rescue services in Mongolia are searching for 17 mountaineers who disappeared on Sunday when going down from Mount Otgontenger -- the highest peak of the Khangai Mountains in the province of Zavkhan in western Mongolia.

The 17 Mongolians, including seven women, were among a group of 27 mountain climbers who successfully stood on Mount Otgontenger, but they ran into a snow avalanche when they descended.

Local emergency services immediately launched a rescue operation on the day and Mongolia's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also held an emergency meeting to consider sending a reinforcement team after receiving the information by 2:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) from one of the 10 mountaineers who got down.

Mongolian Environment and Tourism Minister Namsrai Tserenbat stressed at the emergency meeting that the ascent to Mount Otgontenger was banned from 2015.

Mongolian Prime Minister Ulziisaikhan Enkhtuvshin, who also heads the State Commission for Emergency Situations, instructed Major-General T.Badral, the head of the NEMA, to intensify the search.

Otgontenger is 4,008 meters above the mean sea level and is the only peak in the Khangai range that is capped with a permanent glacier. -Xinhua