The Chinese police has been making all-out efforts to ensure safety of both tourists and locals by offering them prompt rescue and help in high-altitude border region in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.
Standing at an elevation of 6,656 meters, Mount Kangrinboqe attracts tourists and pilgrims from home and abroad every year.
In 2025, about 360,000 trekkers across the globe circled Mount Kangrinboqe. For trekkers, the rainy season is the most dangerous time there, when exposure, hypothermia, or fevers could be fatal for them.
At extreme altitudes, acute mountain sickness, hypothermia, or pulmonary edema can strike trekkers without warning.
The core challenge in global high-altitude rescue is timeliness, and the Chinese police based in Kangrinboqe averagely respond to emergencies in three minutes.
Zhang Minsheng, police officer of Ta'erqin Border Police Station, often gets less than five hours of sleep a day as he and his colleagues are always busy with providing help for the trapped tourists.
"I'll go to pick up the person who called, then come back for you. Just rest here for now," Zhang told a stranded tourist who needed a ride, while he was on his way to rescue another.
When Zhang reached the tourist who had made the emergency call, he and his colleagues gave immediate assistance.
"This is serious. She's coughing and could have pulmonary edema," said Zhang.
After picking up the trapped tourists, Zhang and his colleagues immediately sent them to hospitals or to the areas in lower altitude.
As of October 2025, the Chinese police in Ta'erqin Border Police Station, Ngari Border Detachment, had answered 265 emergency calls, saving 968 global trekkers.
Chinese police make all-out efforts to ensure safety of tourists in high-altitude region
