QOMOLANGMA, Tibet: Thirty reporters arrived on Monday at the Mount Qomolangma media center, which will provide a base for journalists covering the Beijing Olympic flame's ascent of the world's highest peak.
But their number soon fell to 29 after a reporter from Hong Kong was forced to return to sea level after suffering from altitude sickness, an official with the center said yesterday.
The center, in Tingri county, Xigaze prefecture, southwest of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, is located at an altitude of 5,040 m, Yang Zhanqi, an official with the center told the Xinhua News Agency.
Kuang Yiyi, a reporter with Hong Kong TVB, was among the first team of 19 Chinese and 11 foreign journalists to arrive at the site, but his stay was short-lived, as he was found to be suffering from a bad headache, and had a high temperature and a low oxygen level in his blood, Yang said.
Liu Xuan, deputy director of the center, said Kuang and a media official who was also suffering from altitude sickness were taken by ambulance to a hospital in Tingri, 102 km from the base camp.
Ariane Reimers, a reporter from the Beijing bureau of Germany's ARD Television, said she had also found the conditions difficult.
"It's a bit tough at this high altitude, so I will need to take some time to get used to it," she said.
"We are about 5,000 m up and I have been getting headaches and have had difficulty sleeping over the past few days.
"But after coming all this way I am really looking forward to writing some good stories about the relay and the torchbearers.
"It's an amazing feat to build a media center so high up. The mountaineers have been wonderful," she said.
According to earlier reports, the lantern carrying the Olympic flame has already reached the base camp of Mount Qomolangma, marking the first time the Olympic flame has been on the world's highest peak.
Chinese mountaineers will carry the torch - which is separate from the one currently on a global tour - to the summit of the world's highest peak next month, weather conditions permitting.
In 2005, scientists calculated the height of Qomolangma at 8,844.43 m, 3.7 m less than it measured in 1975.
Source: China Daily/Xinhua
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