OMM Redaksiyası
An avalanche at the base camp of Nepal’s 7,126-metre Himlung peak has killed at least 15 expedition workers, as rescue teams continued searching the site in central Nepal.
Rescuers recovered eight more bodies on Thursday from the camp, which was hit early on Sunday. The disaster is among the worst mountain incidents in Nepal in recent years, AFP and Reuters reported.
Search for missing worker continues
The Nepali workers had been pitching tents and fixing ropes for later expeditions near the Chinese border. Foreign climbers had not yet reached the site when the avalanche struck.
Tul Singh Gurung, president of the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association, said 15 bodies had been recovered so far. He told Reuters the latest recovered bodies were expected to be flown by helicopter to Kathmandu.
Gurung said the chances of finding the one remaining missing worker were slim and that the rescue operation was likely to end soon. Eleven rescuers, including experienced guides, were digging through more than four metres of snow that had buried the tents.
Previous mountain disasters
Two mountain guides’ bodies were recovered on Sunday, followed by two kitchen workers on Monday and three more bodies on Tuesday.
In 2014, an avalanche on Everest killed 16 people. The following year, an earthquake killed 18 people on the mountain.
Floods and landslides add to toll
Authorities are also searching for bodies after floods caused by a mountain glacier collapse on 26 August killed more than 1,400 people and left more than 5,000 missing.
Heavy rain since Thursday has triggered further floods and landslides, killing at least 21 people, according to the national disaster agency.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks, and mountaineering and trekking tourism are important to its economy. Himlung is a popular destination for climbers beginning to scale peaks above 7,000 metres.
