Avalanche at Nepal’s Himlung mountain leaves 2 workers dead, 14 missing

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescue teams were searching for a dozen individuals swept away by an avalanche that claimed at least two lives on a Nepalese mountain during severe weather conditions on Sunday. Another ten individuals were rescued from Mount Himlung, a 7,126-meter peak in north-central Nepal, after the avalanche struck. The victims were all Nepali nationals who were at a base camp preparing for foreign climbers to arrive and scale the peak during the Autumn climbing season.

Helicopters transported the ten rescued individuals, while the remains of the two deceased were airlifted to Kathmandu airport on Monday and subsequently taken to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Family members and friends of the deceased were present at the hospital morgue but declined to comment.

Flooding and landslides were reported in the Manang district, where Mount Himlung is situated, following heavy rainfall over the weekend. The district administration office confirmed these incidents. Earlier this week, the government issued warnings of severe weather across the entire Himalayan nation.

Nepal has been grappling with the aftermath of devastating flooding in August, which decimated several villages, claiming over 1,400 lives and leaving nearly 6,000 others missing.