In Nepal, rescue operation to retrieve the bodies of eight climbers from base camp of Mount Gurja is likely to resume today. The rescue helicopter could not land yesterday due to inclement weather and icy wind conditions.
Our correspondent reports five Korean and three Nepali climbers were killed after their camp was devastated by a violent snowstorm on Friday.
Bodies of eight climbers have been spotted in the wreckage of tents while one Nepali Guide is still missing. A five-member South Korean expedition team and four Nepali guides had been camping at the foot of 7,193 meter Mount Gurja for last few days.
They were waiting for a window of good weather to attempt the summit. The base camp is situated at 3,500m and it take at least one day trek from the nearest village to reach there. Gurja is the rarely climbed mountain in Nepal’s Annapurna region.
It lies next to avalanche prone Dhaulagiri, the world’s seventh highest peak.
The storm is the deadliest in Nepal since 18 people killed at the Mount Everest base camp in 2015 in an avalanche triggered by a powerful earthquake.
