The grim search for missing hikers and bodies buried under snow resumed Thursday against the dramatic backdrop of Nepal's Himalayas, a day after the news emerged that at least 17 trekkers had died in an exceptionally heavy snowfall.
Rescue crews combed the high altitude paths and passes of the popular Annapurna region as well as the neighboring Manang district.
Nine stranded Israeli tourists were rescued Thursday, as well as three Canadians and four Indians who were pulled to safety, according to the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal.
The trekkers' group said it deployed helicopters to rescue hikers stranded by snow, floodwaters and avalanches along the popular Himalayan trekking trails.
A dozen of the trekkers who died Tuesday lost their lives below the iconic 5,416-meter (17,770-foot) Thorung La Pass in Mustang district, the highest point of the highly popular 21-day Annapurna Circuit trek.
Four bodies were recovered Wednesday, while five more dead -- two Israelis, one Pole and two Nepalis -- were uncovered beneath the snow Thursday, said Baburam Bhandari, chief district officer of Mustang district. Three more remain buried.
Those who manage the steep ascent at energy-sapping high altitude to the Thorung La Pass are normally rewarded with breathtaking panoramic views. But on Tuesday morning everything changed.
Trekkers spend the night at local camps on either side of the mountain before they set out, sometimes as early as 4 a.m., to make the crossing, said Bidur Kuikel of Annapurna Conservation Area project.
"On Tuesday heavy snowfall began at about 8 a.m.," he said. "There was no visibility beyond three meters."
Since the tracks were covered by snow, people could have fallen down or become lost, he said. Those traveling on their own rather than in organized groups are usually most likely to lose their way, he said.
Officials did not provide a number on the people missing or their nationalities, but say they fear the death toll could rise.
As anxious families wait for news, army and police personnel continued to search the area below the Thorung La Pass in Mustang district on Thursday, Bhandari said.
A Facebook page, Annapurna Nepal Avalanche and Blizzard Info Share, has been set up to try to connect worried relatives with those in Nepal. Some trekkers who have made it down from the remote pass have posted updates to help others.
One, Virginia Schwartz, wrote: "Thank you to everyone for all the kind words and prayers, we are safe. We are trekking out of the avalanche danger zone and heading back down along the circuit."
Another, Nic Brdo from Perth in Western Australia, wrote: "I've just got out of base camp evac'd by heli and would advise to not go up. Flying to Pokhara the amount of snow in the pass (was) astounding."
This is already one of the deadliest such tragedies in the history of Nepal, a nation of about 26 million known worldwide for its spectacular mountain ranges, including Mount Everest.
Annapurna is far and away the most popular of its trekking areas, with some 90,000 trekking there in 2013, according to Narendra Lama, tourism officer of Annapurna Area Conservation Project.
"There have been incidents of trekkers being killed in snowstorms, landslides and avalanches in the past but not as many as this year," Lama said.
"But I do not think that this disaster will have a big impact since it is a natural disaster and not about a security situation," he said. "Trekking is adventurous in nature after all."
October is the best month of the year to do the Annapurna Circuit trek, meaning more visitors than usual may have been in the area when unusually heavy snow caused by Cyclone Hudhud in eastern India came down Monday and Tuesday.
Last year, about 20,000 foreign trekkers crossed the Thorung La Pass, almost 6,000 of them in October, according to Annapurna Conservation Area statistics.
Many remote Nepali communities rely on foreign trekkers and mountaineers for income and employment, meaning a drop in visitors could hit local people hard.
The deaths come only six months after tragedy last struck Nepal, on the slopes of Mount Everest.
Then, a bruising avalanche of ice swept 16 Sherpas to their deaths. After the accident, which came right before the peak season in May, many Sherpas refused to climb and at least six companies that lead Everest expeditions called off their 2014 climbs.
Thursday 16 October 2014
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/16/world/asia/nepal-snowstorm/