Blizzards continue in snowbound China

The worst blizzards to hit China in 50 years showed no signs of lessening today with cities blacked out, transport systems paralysed and a bus crash on an icy road that killed at least 25 people.

The extreme weather, blamed for more than 50 deaths in the past fortnight, arrived as the country began one of the world’s biggest annual mass movements of humanity, the Chinese New Year festival.

Before the storms, railway officials estimated that a record 178.6 million people, more than the population of Russia, would travel by train for the holiday, which begins on February 7.

But hundreds of thousands spent another day shivering outside railway stations as trains were cancelled.

Most were migrant workers trying to go home for the holiday from the booming southern Guangdong province which is often called the world’s factory floor because it makes everything from Honda cars to Apple iPods and Nike trainers.

Those travelling by bus or car risked the frozen roads in southern provinces, which have been suffering their heaviest snowfalls since the 1950s. Main roads were closed in the nation’s financial capital, Shanghai, because snow and sleet made them a treacherous mess.

The worst accident since the blizzards began came when a 35-seat bus slid off an icy mountain road and plunged 40 yards) into a valley in Guizhou province killing 25 people.

Another bus in north-western Gansu province flipped over on icy roads and killed four people.

Several cities suffered blackouts as snow snapped power lines and hampered the delivery of coal, used to generate most of China’s electricity.

In industrial Guangdong, huge red banners were hanging around the train station in the provincial capital of Guangzhou, urging migrant workers to abandon their plans to return home, cash in their tickets and return to their factory dormitories.

About 200,000 people took the advice and got refunds, while another 200,000 continued to linger at the station in a bone-chilling drizzle.

Thousands stood under umbrellas that formed a huge canopy in the station’s plaza, while a larger crowd huddled beneath a fly-over in front of the station hoping to catch a train.

But the busy Beijing-Guangzhou line may not return to normal for three to five days.