Nepal avalanche: 14-member rescue team searches for 12 missing workers, guides

Persistent rain and snowfall have created difficult conditions for climbers and high-altitude workers in Nepal`s mountain districts. Representational pic

A 14-member rescue team has been deployed to search for 12 Nepalese workers and guides who went missing after an avalanche on Himlung Himal in Manang district, officials said on Monday.

The avalanche at the base camp of the 7,126 metre Himlung Himal peak in the Nar Phu area buried a tent where nine climbers and 13 support staff were taking shelter.

The search team, led by Mingma G Sherpa, operator of Imagine Nepal Trek and Expedition and an international mountain guide, was mobilised to look for them, The Kathmandu Post reported.

The team left Kathmandu on Sunday and stayed overnight in Chame. On Monday morning, it was flown by helicopter from Chame to the Himlung base camp, where the search operation began, it said.

Senior Captain Pasang Norbu Sherpa of Prabhu Helicopter said they took the rescue team to the base camp on Monday morning.

"We took the rescue team to the Himlung base camp this morning," Sherpa said. He said the search began after the helicopter dropped the team at the base camp.

Guides experienced in high-altitude work are searching likely locations and assessing the situation. The operation has been made difficult by bad weather and challenging mountain conditions.

Meanwhile, the bodies of two people who died in the avalanche are being flown from Chame Hospital to Kathmandu. A Kailash Helicopter chopper will take them to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, it said.

More than two dozen Nepali high-altitude workers and guides from Himalayan Holidays and Imagine Nepal Trek and Expedition had travelled from Kathmandu to Himlung about two weeks ago to prepare for the climbing season. They had been working on the climbing route and preparing the base camp.

Nepal's mountain districts have seen persistent rain and snow in recent days, creating treacherous conditions for the climbers.

The latest death of Nepalese climbers comes as Nepal is still recovering from devastating flash floods in August that swept several villages, leaving more than 1,400 people dead and nearly 6,000 others missing.

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