LHASA - A total of 55 people who have been stranded on west China's Xinjiang-Tibet Highway since Tuesday due to heavy snowfall have been rescued, a local rescue team said Thursday.

Traffic on the highway, which links the Tibet and Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous regions, resumed on Thursday following a rescue operation conducted by armed police, according to Zheng Jinshui, a police officer in charge of the rescue.

Continuous snowfall and temperatures as low as negative 30 degrees Celsius didn't stop the rescuers, who have cleared snow from a total 95 km of highway in Ngari prefecture, according to Zheng.

The Xinjiang-Tibet Highway is a major transport route linking Tibet to other parts of the country.