At least nine climbers killed in Gorkha avalanche

At least nine climbers have been killed in avalanche in northern part of Gorkha district Sunday morning.

They were killed after avalanche buried them while they were having breakfast at around 9.00 am in 2 and 3 number base camps of Manaslu Mountain in Samagaun VDC- 4, District Police Office Gorkha said.

The climbers were the foreigners mainly from France and Germany, according to the police. The identities of two deceased have been established so far. They have been identified as Christianmetteu Meyer, the German citizen and Babu Dorje Sherpa of Nepal, Gorkha police chief DSP Basanta Bahadur Kunwar informed Nepalnews.

He also said that there have been difficulties to send rescue teams from district headquarters as the incident site is located at an altitude of some 7,000 meters and is around 100 km away from the district headquarters.

"Seven dead bodies have been collected and rescuers are searching the missing persons," he quoted Simrik Air officials as saying.

Earlier, rescue teams rescued 12 tourists alive from the incident site. Four persons are still missing, according to him.

Three helicopters--two belonging to Simrik Air and another belonging to Fishtail Air have been conducting rescue operation. nepalnews.com