(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-17 19:44

Two helicopters, carrying Chinese and Russian rescue experts, were scheduled to take off at 9:30 am on Monday and fly to the upper reaches of the Yurungkax River where the three bodies were found, said Yili Ismail, deputy director of the general office of the Xinjiang regional government.

"But the flights had to be postponed because of a sandstorm that started on Sunday afternoon," he said.

A search of the same area was abandoned on Sunday afternoon when two helicopters had to return 23 minutes after take-off at 4:00 pm.

The sandstorm is forecast to abate on Tuesday, according to the meteorological bureau in Hotan.

"The search headquarters will keep a close eye on the weather change and resume operations immediately once weather permits," Yili said.

The government has mobilized about 1,700 soldiers, policemen and local herdsmen to search for the missing tourists.

The other five Russians have been identified as Sergey Chernik, Andrey Pautov, Dmitry Tishchenko, Ivan Chernik and Alexander Zverev. The youngest one of the six people was 25 and the oldest, 47.

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