Hopes wane for 40 after 39 dead in Nepal blizzard
Print Edition
HOPES faded yesterday for survivors of one of Nepal’s worst mountain disasters as villagers joined an intensive search by troops and government officials for as many as 40 people missing after an unseasonal blizzard killed 39.
More than 500 people have been rescued from a route popular with foreign adventure tourists that circles Annapurna, the world’s 10th tallest peak. The survivors included 230 foreigners.
Rescuers turned to villagers familiar with the rugged, snow-clad terrain to help look for stranded trekkers. The snow and avalanches were triggered by the tail end of a cyclone, which hit India last weekend.
“We are not clear where the missing people are and whether they are safe or not safe,” Yadav Koirala, chief of Nepal’s disaster management authority, said in Kathmandu, the capital.
“We can only hope and pray that they are not dead.”
Since Wednesday, rescue teams have recovered 30 bodies and identified nine more from the air.
“The snow is very thick and the rescue teams are finding it difficult to pull the nine bodies out,” said K.P. Sharma, an administrator in Dolpa, a district of glaciers and ravines.
Army helicopters searched for survivors on parts of the trail at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters. Soldiers fanned out through some of the most treacherous terrain, where helicopters cannot land.
The dead include Canadian, Indian, Israeli, Japanese, Nepalese, Polish and Slovak trekkers. Survivors said many victims died trying to descend from the trail’s highest pass in freezing, whiteout conditions.
The incident was Nepal’s second major mountain disaster this year. Sixteen guides died in an avalanche in April on Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak.
This week’s disaster was the worst since 42 people died in the Mount Everest region in 1995, army officials said.
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