China has deployed about 1,300 people, including fire-fighters and armed police in Tibet to stamp out a major forest fire at the foot of Mount Everest that has been raging for over a week, media reports said here.

Bush forest fires in Tingri, a small Tibetan county are still not controlled by Friday after the fires broke out six days ago, Xinhua news agency reported from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

Strong winds, dangerous mountain landscapes and no water sources within two kilometres made the rescue work especially difficult, local officials said.

About 1,300 fire fighters, armed police and locals are working jointly to put out the fires and investigate cause of the fires, they said.

The fires broke out last Sunday in bushes of Tingri county in Xigaze, at the foot of Mount Everest.

Fire flames could be spotted when fire fighters arrived at the site, and the fire flames were basically put out on Thursday after two days of fighting, but thick smokes and flying sparkles still could be seen on Friday, officials said. The gales were strong enough to revive any sparkles in the forests, they said. The fires were dispersed at the steep mountain peaks and valleys embedded in snow-covered mountains.

The fires occurred at longitude 86.56 east and latitude 25.51 north, about 50 kilometres from Mt. Everest. The fires are about four kilometres away from the virgin forests in a natural reserve around Mt. Everest.