Ten killed, over 80 missing after heavy dust storm hits Mongolia

Ten people, including five herdsmen and one child, were found dead after a heavy dust storm hit Mongolia, the country’s emergency management department said on Monday.

This is the second major sandstorm within 2 days after that in Saudi Arabia, which blocked the sun and turned the sky blood red…

The department said it had received reports of 548 missing people from nine provinces across the country between Saturday night and Monday morning.

Horses hate sand too:

Адуун сүрэг минь авто замын хөдөлгөөнд …
👇🐎🚙🐎🚗🐎🚛🐎👇 pic.twitter.com/2fSypCDqUk

— Б.Баасандорж (@ibaasandorj) March 14, 2021

So far, 467 people have been found and rescuers were trying to locate 81 who were still unaccounted for, it said.

Meanwhile, local media reported that some areas in western Mongolia experienced large-scale power cuts over the weekend due to the storm.

Neighboring China was also affected by the dust storm with large areas in the north, including the capital Beijing, experiencing the largest sandstorms in a decade on Monday.

The sandstorm created surreal scenes in Beijing, with thick dust turning the sky orange over the Chinese capital.

The storm caused an unprecedented spike in air pollution measurements with Beijing’s air quality index showed a reading of 999, a level described as “hazardous,” the worst possible tier.

According to the NMC, 12 provinces and cities are expected to experience sandstorms during the day and at night.

Weather satellites estimated that the visible dust zone covered an area of 466,000 square kilometers, marking China’s most intense and extensive sandstorm in the last 10 years.

This article originally appeared on Strange Sounds.