Glacier collapses in China's Xinjiang,causes extensive damage

BEIJING: A huge glacier has collapsed in China, burying over 100 cattles, crushing dozens of houses and damaging 1,000 hectares of grassland.

No casualties have been reported in the glacier slide that occurred in the Akto County of the Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang.

About 60 families were evacuated after the 20-kilometre- long and one-kilometre-wide glacier devoured their land.

Researchers of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have been sent to investigate the glacier's collapse, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The researchers would collect information via remote sensing technologies, said Li Zhongqin, head of CAS Tianshan Mountains Glacier Observation Station.

"Climate change is the main reason leading to glacier moves," Li said.

The glacier was part of Kongur Tiube peak. Kongur Tiube which means "the mountain with a white cap" in local language, is the second highest peak of the western Kunlun with an elevation of 7,530 metres.