▲ Mt. Himlung Himal in Nepal, where an avalanche caused casualties
The death toll from a recent avalanche near a base camp in the Nepalese Himalayas has risen to 15 after eight more bodies were recovered.
According to agencies such as AFP and dpa on local time October 2, the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association (NNMGA) stated that 15 Nepalese nationals had died as of the previous day following an avalanche that occurred on September 27 at the base camp of Mt. Himlung Himal (7,126 meters above sea level), a high peak in the Himalayan mountain range in Gandaki Province, central Nepal.
The initially announced death toll was 7, but rescue workers recovered 8 additional bodies near the accident site.
The victims were guides and others supporting high-altitude mountaineering who were caught in the accident while preparing for year-end climbs.
An NNMGA official who participated in the rescue operations said, "Our team remains at the site to search for one person who is still missing."
Rescue teams have found all of the missing person's belongings, but their whereabouts and condition have not yet been confirmed.
A video posted by the NNMGA on social media showed the bodies of the missing persons being discovered one after another in the snow.
NNMGA President Tul Singh Gurung added, "The bodies were found buried deep in the snow," and "11 additional rescue workers are conducting searches."
In Nepal, 596 floods and landslides have occurred consecutively since September 22.
Excluding the 15 people killed in the Himlung Himal avalanche, floods and avalanches have caused 31 deaths so far, according to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in Nepal.
Citing concerns over additional accidents, Nepalese authorities have temporarily restricted trekking and climbing activities on several high peaks recently.
In the high-altitude regions of the Himalayas, where avalanches and landslides frequently occur, accidents have continued unabated in recent years due to increasingly volatile weather driven by climate change.
In November of last year, an avalanche near the summit of Yalung Ri peak (5,600 meters) in the Himalayas in Dolakha District, Bagmati Province, central Nepal, killed seven people, including foreign climbers, and left four Nepalese missing.
In August, massive floods originating in the upper reaches of the Himalayan mountainous region left about 1,400 people dead and more than 6,000 missing in Nepal and the neighboring Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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