URUMQI - A total of 168 tourists were rescued early Thursday after being stranded by high winds for 12 hours in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, rescuers said.

The tourists were traveling by car and bus on a provincial highway in Emin county of Tacheng prefecture when they were stranded Wednesday afternoon in Maytas, a high-wind zone, by strong gales sweeping at 70 km per hour, said Ghulahazi Islamgaz, a driver from the Maytas emergency rescue base.

Transportation authorities closed the highway, as the winds brought heavy snow and reduced visibility to less than 10 meters.

Snowplows and forklifts worked until after midnight and the stranded tourists were escorted away from the high-wind zone at 2 a.m. Thursday, he said.

The Maytas section of the highway reopened at 10 am.

Maytas is prone to high winds and blizzards, which block roads and trap vehicles almost every winter.