The group of Russian sportsmen had planned a canoe trip down the Yurungkax River, a remote area in the Kunlun Mountains, one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, but they failed to turn up 12 days later as scheduled.
The Russian Canoe Federation subsequently requested help from the Russian embassy in China in finding the missing sportsmen.
Over 1,000 rescuers have searched the lower reaches of the river, and have almost finished the operation in the middle reaches of the river. Now a special group has left for the spot in Yutian County where the group began canoeing on the Yurungkax River.
A Chinese military aircraft with 12 more rescuers has begun searching the area in Hotan. The Chinese team is carrying food, medicine and clothes for the Russian tourists.
A Russian Emergency Situations Ministry IL-76 cargo aircraft carrying a jeep and a Bo-105 light reconnaissance plane, as well as 17 members of an airmobile team and task force landed 10:55 a.m. local time (2:55 a.m. GMT) in Xinjiang and after a short stop will go to Hotan County to assist with the operation in China.
The Xinhua agency had earlier reported the local Russian-language interpreter, Zhang Hong, as saying that the Russian sportsmen might have been swept away by landslides.
Meanwhile Memtimin Kurban, a local herdsman who volunteered to join the search, said as the water flow in the upper reaches is limited during the season, "there is a high chance that their canoes might have been stranded."
"They are possibly dragging the boats to search for areas more suitable for canoeing," he said adding that "if they can't get out of the area soon, their food will run out and they will be threatened with starvation."
