Nepal Avalanche Kills Two as 12 Guides and Support Workers Remain Missing

Two Nepali climbing guides have been confirmed dead and 14 kitchen staff remain missing after an avalanche tore through the base camp of Himlung Himal in western Nepal's Manang district on Sunday.

Two bodies were recovered from the base camp of the 7,126-metre peak, near the border with Tibet, as search and rescue operations continued. The Nepal National Mountain Guides Association said the two climbing guides had been found dead, while 14 kitchen staff remained missing.

The recovery of the bodies came as rescuers worked to establish the whereabouts of those still unaccounted for following the avalanche.

The avalanche hit early on Sunday as an advance team of Nepali workers, employed by several expedition companies, were fixing ropes, pitching tents and preparing the route ahead of the autumn climbing season, before foreign clients arrive.

No foreign climbers were at the mountain when the avalanche struck, with clients expected to arrive in the following days. The workers had been preparing the base camp and route ahead of the arrival of those clients when the avalanche struck.

Bibhuti Chand Thakur, of Himalaya Holidays Trekking, told AFP that eight members of his expedition team had initially been reported missing, along with two members of another company.

Communication problems made it difficult for operators to account for everyone as the rescue operation developed, while later reports put the number of people still missing at 14. The changing figures reflected the difficulty of establishing contact with workers in the affected area as the search operation got under way.

Search for Himlung Himal Victims Hampered by Weather

The Manang district administration had already restricted trekking in several high-altitude areas from 25 to 27 September after forecasts of heavy rain and snowfall, on the advice of the District Security Committee.

The avalanche struck while that weather system was still moving through Nepal's mountain districts, adding to the difficult conditions faced by workers and rescuers in the area.

Helicopters initially struggled to reach the site because of thick cloud, heavy snow and poor visibility. A specialist rescue team of experienced mountaineers was flown from Kathmandu once conditions allowed, while authorities said the search would continue as weather and daylight permitted.

The difficult conditions meant that rescuers had to work around weather and visibility constraints while attempting to reach those still missing.

Himlung Himal Avalanche Adds to Deadly Season in Nepal

Persistent rain and snow in recent days have affected Nepal's mountain regions, forcing climbers to abandon Mount Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest peak, earlier in the week because of rising avalanche danger.

The difficult weather has also hampered rescue efforts at Himlung Himal, where search teams have been working amid the same challenging conditions.

The Himlung Himal avalanche comes less than two months after six Nepali climbers, among them the British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja, died in an avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan. The latest incident adds to a difficult period for Nepali mountaineers and support workers in the region.

Tourism is one of Nepal's principal sources of foreign income, and the latest incident follows a major flood near the Nepal-China border last month, in which a glacier collapse and landslide sent water and debris down the Trishuli River valley, killing more than 1,400 people and leaving approximately 5,700 missing, according to government figures.

Search teams are still recovering bodies from that disaster while now also working at Himlung Himal. Rescuers, pilots and fellow guides in Manang were continuing their search on Sunday night for colleagues who had gone up the mountain to prepare it for others.

The search remained focused on locating those still missing as rescue teams continued working at the mountain.