Avalanche in Himalayas kills 17 trekkers

As the weather cleared on Wednesday, rescuers trudging through waist-deep snow found 22 stranded trekkers.

Nepalese soldiers in Thorong La pass, Mount Annapurna, carry an avalanche victim being airlifted to hospital yesterday. AP Photo / Nepalese Army

KATHMANDU // A snowstorm and avalanche in Nepal’s Himalayas killed 17 trekkers and guides on a popular hiking route and more than 100 others remain out of contact.

Severe weather triggered by the tail end of Cyclone Hudhud, which battered 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 Mustang and Manang districts, rescuers, trudging through waist-deep snow, found 22 stranded trekkers.

Some 168 foreign tourists were registered to hike in the districts, and authorities were trying to track them down, a police official said.

Twelve bodies, those of two Israelis, a Pole, a Vietnamese and eight Nepalese trekkers and guides, were discovered buried in the snow in Mustang, said Ganesh Rai who is heading the rescue effort.

“There has been heavy snowfall in the area, up to three feet 91 centimetres,” Mr Rai said.

Rescuers, aided by a Nepal army helicopter and several others hired by trekking agencies, also found the bodies of five hikers caught in an avalanche in neighbouring Manang district.

“A chopper search has located the bodies of five people, including four Canadians and an Indian, killed in an avalanche,” Mr Rai said.

In a separate incident in Manang, three yak herders were killed in another avalanche on Tuesday while grazing their animals.

Mustang district official Baburam Bhandari 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,” he said,

Injured victims were taken to local hospitals for treatment with a few with minor injuries airlifted to Kathmandu. Details of those rescued, including their nationalities, were not known.

In a separate incident, rescuers were searching for a 67-year-old Frenchman who fell into a river on Tuesday while following the Manaslu trekking route.

Thousands of trekkers visit the Annapurna region every October, when weather conditions are usually favourable for hiking trips.

However, the region has seen unusually heavy snowfall this week as a result of Cyclone Hudhud, which struck India’s east coast at the weekend, killing 22 people and causing devastation there.

The cyclone also sparked heavy downpours in other parts of central and western Nepal, including the hilly Gorkha district, where the French trekker slipped and fell into the Budhi Gandaki river.

In April the deadliest disaster to hit Mount Everest killed 16 people and forced an unprecedented shutdown of the world’s highest peak.

The avalanche that tore through a group of Sherpas — who were hauling gear up the mountain for their foreign clients before dawn — saw scores of expeditions cancelled.

The effective closure of the 8,848-metre mountain for the season dealt a huge blow to the impoverished nation, which relies heavily on tourism revenues from climbing and trekking.

Agence France-Presse