One Japanese national went missing and another three were rescued Sunday after five visitors at the Great Wall of China outside Beijing were caught in a sudden blizzard, according to reports by Chinese media.
China Central Television said one of the five remained unconscious, although no further details were immediately available and the identities of the five people have yet to be disclosed.
The Japanese Embassy in Beijing was trying to verify the reports.
Residents in the Chinese capital saw the first snow of the season Sunday as blizzards whipped through the city's western districts and knee-high snow accumulated, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, quoting posts on the Sina Weibo microblogging service.
"The snow covering roads has reached up to 40 cm high, and hundreds of vehicles have been stranded for over 12 hours on the Badaling road section of the Beijing-Tibet Expressway as rescuers clear the road," one post read.
Heavy snow was forecast to hit most parts of Beijing, northern and western areas of Hebei Province, and central and eastern parts of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region later Sunday and Monday, Xinhua quoted the National Meteorological Center as saying.