URUMQI, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The seven Russian hikers that remained missing in a northwestern mountain area did not get approval from Chinese authorities for the trip, the local government said Friday.

    The Russian hikers, five men and two women, applied for a hiking tour to the Kunlun Mountain Range to the public security and tourism bureaus of Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on Sept. 12.

    However, the two bureaus denied them permission to proceed due to safety concerns and the Russians promised to quit their plan, said the emergency response office of Hotan.

    Nevertheless, they hiked to the mountain areas in Minfeng County on Sept. 14 accompanied by a local interpreter Zhang Hong, who returned to Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, later the same day.

    Zhang, an unregistered tour guide in Urumqi, reported the matter to police on Oct. 13 that the seven were stranded in the mountain and needed help.

    Nine people, including Zhang, were searching in two teams for the missing Russians around Karasay and Xorkol Lake, the possible destinations, but found no trace.

    Police received a phone call from a Russian in Beijing Friday, who said one of the missing Russians got a fever with the body temperature reaching 39 Celsius degrees and suffered injury on the leg.

    The Russian expedition team is equipped with satellite telephone, according to Zhang, who also accompanied four Russian tourists that died in a canoe trip in mountains two years ago.

    The Kunlun Mountain Range has an elevation of up to 6,000 meters and an extremely harsh climate.