ULAN BATOR, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Mongolian Minister of Road and Transport Development Byambasuren Enkh-Amgalan has issued a decree on restricting travel on highways linking the capital to several provinces due to strong winds and snowstorms, local media reported Saturday.
"Heavy snowstorms have swept through southern, central and eastern provinces of the country since Friday evening, leading to dangerous driving conditions with slippery roads and poor visibility. So, travel between the capital city Ulan Bator and some southern, central and eastern provinces have been restricted for a certain period of time," the decree said.
According to the decree, highways linking Ulan Bator and four provinces, namely Umnugovi and Dundgovi in the south, Govisumber in the central and Dornogovi in the east were planned to close until Sunday afternoon.
In addition, the minister decided to restrict traffic on roads linking the capital with three eastern provinces, namely Khentii, Sukhbaatar and Dornod, until Monday afternoon.
The weather in large parts of Mongolia has been unstable since the beginning of May.
Four nomadic herders in Umnugovi province and two herders in Uvurkhangai province were frozen to death during a heavy snowstorm last weekend.
The Mongolian National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring forecast strong winds and snowstorms would remain active across large parts of the country until the end of this month, urging citizens to take extra precautions against expected disasters.
