Rescuers have recovered two bodies after an avalanche struck a climbing group's base camp on Himlung Himal (7,126m) in Nepal's Manang district on Sunday morning. Around a dozen people are still missing, according to officials. The group, consisting of Nepalese climbers and support staff, had been sent ahead of foreign climbers to prepare the camp and fix ropes on the mountain.
Bibhuti Chand Thakur of Himalaya Holidays Trekking told AFP that at least eight members of his expedition team had been reported missing. The exact number of climbers still unaccounted for remains unclear. A rescue team of experienced mountaineers was rushed from Kathmandu via helicopter, but poor weather has hampered efforts, with helicopters and rescue teams initially unable to reach the site.
Heavy snowfall in recent days around the peak, which lies on Nepal's border with Tibet, created treacherous conditions. Local media report that the rescue effort is expected to continue on Monday due to thick snow and bad weather. The Nepalese team had been sent ahead of foreign climbers to manage the route and fix ropes, a common practice in the region's climbing industry.
Nepal's mountain districts have seen persistent rain and snow in recent days, creating hazardous conditions for the country's economically important climbing tourism industry. Earlier this week, climbers were forced to leave Mount Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest peak, due to the rising threat of avalanches.
The latest deaths come less than two months after six climbers lost their lives on Broad Peak in Pakistan, including renowned British-Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja. It also comes as efforts to recover bodies continue on the Nepal-Tibet border, where more than 6,000 people are still missing after a massive flood and landslide in August. More than 1,400 people are confirmed to have died after a glacial collapse sent vast quantities of water and debris down the Trishuli River valley, sweeping away settlements.
Extreme weather events have also affected other parts of Asia in the past week. In neighbouring India's Uttar Pradesh region, extreme weather has killed more than 50 people, officials said. Meanwhile, a flood emergency disaster has been declared across Bangkok because of heavy rainfall since Thursday, with people urged to stay at home or move to higher floors. Earlier this week, a deadly typhoon battered Tokyo, triggering landslides in neighbouring prefectures that killed four people. Typhoon Dujuan was the latest in a series of storms in the Pacific, made more intense by the "super El Niño", an area of warmer sea water that facilitates the formation of powerful storms.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk