Nepal avalanche kills at least 4, with search underway for 12 still missing

Rescue teams were searching on Monday for a dozen people hit by an avalanche that killed at least four others on a Nepalese mountain during severe weather. Another 10 people were rescued from Mount Himlung, a 23,380-foot peak in north-central Nepal, after the avalanche hit on Sunday.

All those killed or missing were Nepali nationals. The avalanche hit as people at a base camp prepared for foreign clients to arrive to climb the mountain during the autumn climbing season, which began this month.

Helicopters brought down the 10 rescued, while the remains of the two found dead on Sunday were airlifted to Kathmandu airport and transported to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Rescuers said they recovered two more bodies Monday.

All those killed or missing were Nepali nationals, officials said. They were at base camp preparing for foreign clients to arrive and climb the peak during the autumn climbing season, which began this month, when they were swept away.

Flooding and landslides were reported in the Manang district where the mountain is located over the weekend, caused by heavy rainfall, the district administration office said.

The avalanche came as the government issued warnings of severe weather all across the Himalayan nation.

Nepal’s disaster management agency said 21 other people had been killed and five more were missing in different parts of the country between Thursday and Sunday.

Nepal is recovering from devastating flooding in August that swept away several villages, leaving more than 1,400 people dead and nearly 6,000 others missing.

In early September, two people were rescued 10 days after the floods hit the country. One man was rescued from a 738-foot hydropower tunnel, and a woman was found alive in a house in the town of Nuwakot.