Lost Russians in 'miracle' rescue

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Two Russian men missing for weeks in a remote, mountainous area of western China have been found alive, their survival described as miraculous.

The two were among six Russians who disappeared during a canoe trip on the Yurungkax River in Xinjiang region.

The bodies of three of the men were found last weekend. Chinese and Russian officials said all three had drowned.

One of the survivors, Alexander Zverev, said they were thrown from their canoes by the Yurungkax's turbulent waters.

Survived in cave

Russian television showed Mr Zverev looking thin and exhausted as he stepped down from a Chinese military helicopter in the city of Hotan.

"It is a miracle that Zverev managed to survive in an uninhabited mountainous area at an elevation of 4,000 metres (13,200 feet)," China's official news agency, Xinhua, quoted rescue official Zhang Shaoyun as saying.

Mr Zverev said he survived for 20 days by sleeping in a cave covered in tree branches.

A joint Sino-Russian search team found the second survivor, Andrei Pautov, about 10 hours after Mr Zverev was picked up.

A search for the tourists was launched after they failed to meet their Chinese interpreter on 2 September after beginning their trip in mid-August.

Clothing and two canoes belonging to the group was first discovered about 10 days ago.

The bodies of two of the men were found on Saturday near one of their canoes on the rugged upper reaches of the Yurungkax, Xinhua, said.

The third body was found on Sunday.

The Yurungkax River flows north from the Kunlun mountains through steep gorges before drying up in the Taklamakan Desert.