Himalayas snowstorm toll rises to 24 killed on trek

The toll from snowstorms and avalanches in Nepal's Himalayas climbed to 29 foreign and local trekkers and mountaineers dead or presumed dead, officials said Thursday.

20141016001046035597-original.jpg

An injured survivor of a snow storm is assisted by army personel into a Nepalese Army helicopter in Manang District, along the Annapurna Circuit Trek. (Nepal Army)

Local officials said the bodies of 24 trekkers had been found on the popular Annapurna circuit, while five more mountaineers who were in an area hit by an avalanche could not be found and were presumed dead.

Those killed included trekkers and guides, both foreigners and Nepalis, on a popular hiking route, while more than 100 others remain out of contact, officials say.

Severe weather triggered by the tail end of Cyclone Hudhud, which battered neighbouring India's east coast, hit groups of trekkers and guides on the Annapurna circuit in central Nepal on Tuesday.

As the weather cleared on Wednesday in the remote Mustang and Manang districts, rescuers, trudging through waist-deep snow, found 22 stranded trekkers, an official said.

But some 168 foreign tourists were registered to hike in the districts, and authorities are now trying to track them down.

"There has been heavy snowfall in the area, up to three feet (91 centimetres),"  police official Ganesh Rai said.

"We have found twelve bodies in Mustang, including four foreigners, two from Israel, one from Poland and one from Vietnam," Rai told AFP, correcting his earlier information that two of those killed were Polish.

Rescuers also found the bodies of five hikers, four Canadians and an Indian, caught in an avalanche in neighbouring Manang.

In a separate incident in Manang, three yak herders were killed in another avalanche on Tuesday while grazing their animals, district official Devendra Lamichanne told AFP.

Another said he hoped those trekkers still unaccounted for had simply been cut off by the blizzard and poor telecommunications.

"The phone network is not very good so we have not been able to get in touch with the missing, but we hope to find them later today," said Mustang district official Baburam Bhandari.


Share
2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP

Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world