Ten missing after avalanche buries Nepal base camp on Himlung Himal
Rescue helicopters have been unable to reach the 7,126-metre peak because of days of heavy snow, and the missing include kitchen staff preparing for a group due to arrive on 1 October.
Ten people are missing after an avalanche swept down onto a base camp on Himlung Himal, a 7,126-metre peak in the Nar Phu area of Nepal’s Manang district.
Rishi Bhandari, general secretary of the Expedition Operators Association Nepal, confirmed the avalanche struck while sherpas and kitchen staff were fixing ropes and setting up tents for a group scheduled to arrive on 1 October.
Eight of the missing worked for Himalayan Holidays Nepal and two for Imagine Nepal Pvt Ltd, according to the two companies.
Bibhuti Chand Thakur, founder of Himalayan Holidays Nepal, said the company was coordinating rescue efforts. Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, a mountaineer and expedition company owner, said two members of that expedition company’s kitchen team were among those unaccounted for.
Several days of snowfall preceded the avalanche, and severe weather warnings have remained in place since 25 September.
Poor weather has so far prevented rescue helicopters from reaching the base camp, and communication with the area remains limited because of its remoteness.
Government and private trekking operators are coordinating rescue efforts, but no timeline has been given for when a helicopter might reach the site.
The avalanche comes about a week after a glacier collapse and landslide on the Nepal-China border killed at least 1,300 people and left more than 5,000 missing, prompting tourism authorities to urge the suspension of mountain activities.
It has not been said whether that earlier disaster is linked to the conditions on Himlung Himal.