Explorers find Mekong River source in Tibet

Peking - A Franco-British expedition said yesterday that it had discovered the long-sought source of the Mekong River at a height of 4,975 metres (16,400 feet) in Tibet, well to the west of the officially designated source.

The source is at latitude 33 degrees north and longitude 93 degrees east in northern Tibet, the expedition leader, Michel Peissel, a French anthropologist, said. In a message from Xining, in Qinghai province, Mr Peissel said that his team, assisted by local climbers, had reached the source on 17 September.

The exact location of the source of the Mekong has repeatedly eluded both Western and Asian explorers, for reasons that Mr Peissel put down as much to politics as geography. Mr Peissel was due to return to Peking tomorrow with the two other members of his team, Jacques Falck, a Frenchman, and Sebastian Guinness, a Briton. The Mekong runs through China, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. AFP