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Andrew North reports on how rescue teams are still looking for survivors
At
least 39 climbers died on a key Nepali hiking route after it was hit by
major snowstorms and avalanches earlier this week, officials say.
Helicopters are helping rescuers high in the Himalayas as
they search on for missing trekkers, with fears that more bodies lie
beneath the snow.A total of 289 people have been rescued from the mountain ranges in what is Nepal's worst-ever trekking disaster.
A government spokesman said the priority was to rescue stranded people.
Tourism ministry official Suresh Acharya told BBC Nepali that helicopters were scouring snowy areas as high as 5,790m (19,000ft).
Many climbers say that they were caught off-guard when the weather changed quickly
Nepal Army personnel have been helping in the rescue
One of the main trekking routes - the Thorung La pass, the high
point of the Annapurna Circuit - is now "relatively safe" after the
army cleared snow, he said."We are told that there are around still 20-25 persons in the area and they are safe," the official added.
The BBC's Andrew North in Nepal says that it is still unclear which climbers have been accounted for and which are still missing.
The task of the authorities is made more complicated because there are thousands of climbers in Nepal at this time of the year.
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Paul Sherridan: "I looked at a boy and his face was frozen"
Nepalese, Israeli, Canadian, Indian, Slovak and Polish trekkers are among the dead.
Many survivors have been left with severe frostbite and will have to have limbs amputated.
Nepal earns huge revenues from the tens of thousands of trekkers and climbers who flock to the Himalayas every year.
However, it remains a very poor country and the authorities here have struggled to cope with the scale of this disaster, our correspondent says.
An avalanche on Mount Everest in April killed 16 Sherpa guides and resulted in a significant drop in the number of expeditions to the world's highest peak.
The latest disaster comes at the height of the trekking period.
- Roughly 241km (150 miles), takes around three weeks to complete
- Described as "the best long distance trek in the world"
- Known as the "apple pie" circuit due to the baked goods offered by tea houses along the route
- Ascends to 5,416m (17,776ft) at the Thorung La Pass
- Opened to tourists in 1977 after conflicts between guerrillas and the Nepalese army were resolved
- Circuit passes Mount Annapurna, world's 10th highest mountain and one of the most dangerous
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