TRAVELLERS WAITING TO USE the public toilets at the Guangzhou train station yesterday. With toilets few and far between, many tried to drink as little water as possible. -- PHOTO: AFP

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A quick decision may have saved the migrant worker from being crushed in the stampede: she left her fallen luggage behind.

'I've pinned all my cash inside pockets in my underwear anyway,' she told the South China Morning Post.

Some passengers even had to walk barefoot on the icy ground after losing their shoes and socks, the paper said.

China's worst winter storms in 50 years continue to batter the country. Like Fang Fang, millions are literally fighting their way home through ice, snow and the resulting transportation disruptions for the Chinese New Year.

The weather forecast 'remains grim'; more snow and sleet - which has already killed 60 people - was on the way, the government warned in a statement.

The freak weather could last another week, the Central Meteorological Station said.

State-run media have tried to paint an inspiring picture of how people are coping with the disaster that has closed highways, destroyed vegetable crops and delayed shipments of coal - forcing power plants and factories to shut down.

TV images have shown train conductors sweeping the floors and using snow to clean out the toilets on stranded trains.

But Mr Edward Wang, 25, said the crisis brought out the worst in the Chinese system on what was supposed to be a 36-hour trip from the southern city of Guangzhou to his hometown of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province.

The journey turned into a nightmare for the English teacher, who had to cope with little food, no water in the bathrooms, the stench of unwashed bodies and drunken tempers erupting into fights.

Mr Wang's biggest complaint. though, was that the train staff reverted to the communist habit of blacking out bad news. They refused to provide any information about why the train was stalled on the tracks for up to 10 hours at a time.

'I didn't mind getting stuck on the train, but the way they were treating people was terrible,' he said.

Back at the Guangzhou station, one man told the South China Morning Post that he tried to drink as little water as possible, with toilets few and far between.

'It would take at least 40 minutes to get to the closest loo,' Mr He, 29, said. 'I haven't had a drop of water for six hours and I think I can last at least one or two hours more.'

Another man said that he could hold on no longer after eight hours. So he pushed his way out of the crowd, but could find no toilet on his side of the station.

'I had to urinate in the hedges,' he told the paper. 'It's simply not the right time to observe public etiquette. Women were doing the same.'

Those without their own food supplies suffered. Food vendors could be found about 500m away, but the prospect of trying to struggle out of the crowd when you were already in the thick of it was too daunting, one said.

Passengers with children felt especially threatened, said one father. He and three other adults were caring for five children aged one to eight.

'I strapped the smallest one tight to my chest and fastened the oldest one to my waist with a rope,' he said.

Mr Wang, meanwhile, said he regretted not flying home.

When he arrived home - 61 hours later - he thought: 'In this period of time, I could have been in Moscow.'

Reuters, AP, AFP