Four people died and at least 10 went missing after an avalanche struck a climbing camp in Nepal, just weeks after deadly flash floods left nearly 1,400 dead in the Himalayan nation.
The avalanche hit the base camp of Himlung Himal, a 7,126m peak in the Nar Phu area of Manang district, close to the border with Tibet, China, on Sunday morning.
It buried a tent in which nine climbers and 13 support staff were sheltering.
Deputy police superintendent Shailendra Thapa said on Sunday that 12 people went missing after the avalanche and two were later found dead on the peak, leaving 10, all Nepalese nationals, unaccounted for.
On Monday, rescuers from the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association said they had recovered two more bodies.
The association initially said 12 kitchen staff and two guides were missing before reporting that the guides had been found dead, leaving 12 people still missing by its count.
“Unfortunately, after extensive search efforts under extremely difficult conditions, four bodies were recovered, while 12 cook staff remain missing at Himlung Base Camp,” the association said.
The missing staff worked for expedition organisers Himalayan Holidays Nepal and Imagine Nepal Treks, which lost contact with them after the avalanche struck.
"One of the expedition members telephoned and informed that their friends had gone missing after the avalanche hit the base camp," an official at the association said.
“The avalanche was exceptionally large, with approximately 14 feet of snow covering the Base Camp area. Searching every section manually was extremely difficult and dangerous due to the depth of snow, freezing temperatures, and unstable conditions,” the official added, releasing a video showing rescue workers digging through the snow.
Bibhuti Chand Thakur of Himalaya Holidays Trekking told the AFP news agency that eight members of his expedition team were missing.
The Nepalese guides and support staff had been sent ahead of foreign climbers to prepare the camp and fix ropes, according to local media reports. Poor weather hampered the rescue, with helicopters and rescue teams initially unable to reach the site.
A team of experienced mountaineers was then flown in from the capital Kathmandu.
Persistent rainfall and snow in mountainous areas in recent days have created treacherous conditions for Nepal’s climbing tourism industry.
A few days ago, climbers were forced to leave Mount Manaslu, the world's eighth highest peak, because of the rising threat of avalanches.
The avalanche on Himlung Himal came weeks after a glacial collapse in August sent floods and debris down the Trishuli River valley in the country, killing at least 1,400 people and leaving some 6,000 still missing.
Extreme weather has affected many of Asia in the past week.
Nepal’s disaster management agency said 21 other people had been killed and five were missing in different parts of the country between Thursday and Sunday.
More than 50 people have been killed in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, according to officials, and a flood emergency has been declared in Bangkok, Thailand. Earlier, Typhoon Dujuan, the latest in a series of Pacific storms made more intense by the weather phenomenon "super El Niño", struck Japan and triggered landslides that killed four people.
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