Kathmandu, Oct 2: The death toll from the avalanche that struck the base camp of Mt Himlung has risen to 15 after rescuers recovered eight more bodies on Thursday, leaving one expedition worker still missing.
The avalanche hit the base camp of the 7,126-metre mountain near Nepal’s border with China early Sunday, burying 16 Nepali expedition workers who were preparing for upcoming climbing activities.
Tul Singh Gurung, president of the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association, said rescuers recovered eight bodies on Thursday, taking the confirmed toll to 15.
“We are hopeful the last person will be found too,” Gurung said.
Eleven rescuers, including experienced mountain guides, have been deployed at the site. They have been digging through more than four metres of snow that buried tents and other facilities at the base camp.
Recovery operations have continued since Sunday despite difficult conditions. The bodies of two mountain guides were recovered on the day of the avalanche. Rescuers found two kitchen workers on Monday and three more bodies on Tuesday before Thursday’s recovery of eight victims.
The disaster is among Nepal’s deadliest mountaineering accidents in recent years.
In 2014, an avalanche on Mt Everest killed 16 Nepali climbing workers. A year later, an avalanche triggered by the devastating April 2015 earthquake killed 18 people at Everest Base Camp.
The Himlung disaster comes as Nepal continues to deal with the aftermath of other major natural disasters. Authorities are still searching for people missing after the August 26 Bhotekoshi disaster, which was triggered by a mountain glacial collapse and subsequent flooding.
Four days of heavy rainfall in late September also triggered floods and landslides across the country, killing at least 21 people and damaging roads, bridges, houses and other infrastructure.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 mountains above 8,000 metres and depends heavily on trekking and mountaineering tourism.
Mt Himlung is particularly popular among climbers seeking experience on mountains above 7,000 metres before attempting higher Himalayan peaks.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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