China sandstorm leaves Beijing shrouded in orange dust

[link to news.bbc.co.uk]

Beijing has been shrouded in orange dust as a strong sandstorm blew hundreds of miles from drought-struck northern China to the nation's capital.

In Tiananmen Square, clouds of dust obscured monuments, while visitors wore masks to avoid the dust and soil in windy conditions.

A level five pollution warning was issued in the hazardous conditions, and people were urged to stay indoors.

The storm also hit Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei.

On Saturday it had spread over an area of 810,000 sq km with a population of 250 million, official news agency Xinhua reported.

In the 35 hours up to 1100 on Saturday (0300 GMT), 270 million people in an area of 1.8 million sq km had been affected, it said.

Saturday's storm was expected to last until Monday, the meteorological agency said in a statement on its website.

Sandstorms are common during spring in the dry north as temperatures rise and clouds of dust are stirred up and blown across China, to South Korea and Japan and even as far as the US, AFP news agency reported