Pictures: Sandstorms slam north west China

THESE incredible pictures show sandstorms crashing across Zhangye in northwestern China.

The town in China’s Gansu province is made almost invisible by vast clouds of swooping dust and sand.

According to eyewitnesses, large amounts of black dust and sand were pushed by strong winds, resembling a wall of dirt. The sandstorms are caused by melting winter ice displacing large amounts of sand in desert areas of Mongolia, and spring winds blowing that sand across the country

Last week, Beijing’s iconic Tiananmen Square was shrouded in dark black sand, and the capital’s already-high pollution levels rose further.

• Pictures: Getty Images