Fourteen Nepalese Missing in Avalanche at Himlung Himal Base Camp
At least 14 Nepali citizens, including Sherpas, support staff, and culinary workers, have gone missing following a massive avalanche that struck the base camp of the 7,126-meter-high Mount Himlung Himal in the Nar Phu region of Nepal's Manang district. Authorities in neighboring Nepal reported that rescue operations have been severely hampered by adverse weather conditions, leaving rescue helicopters grounded and mounting anxiety among families and expedition organizers.
According to Bibhuti Chandra Thakur, founder of Himalayan Holidays Trekking, the missing individuals are exclusively Nepali personnel who had ascended the mountain ahead of foreign climbing teams scheduled to arrive within the next five to six days. This advanced advance team was tasked with establishing camps, clearing trails, organizing expedition logistics, and fixing ropes. Initial distress signals were received on Sunday morning at approximately 9:40 AM when a Sherpa at Himlung contacted authorities for emergency extraction before communication lines collapsed.
Ramakrishna Lamichhane, Director General of the Department of Tourism in Nepal, confirmed that the government is actively coordinating rescue efforts. However, rescue operations in the remote Himalayan terrain near the Tibet border face compounded challenges due to both hostile weather and complex geographical restrictions requiring special flight clearances. Private helicopters remain on standby in Kathmandu and Pokhara, while discussions are underway to deploy military aircraft as soon as meteorological conditions permit aerial visibility.
The disaster follows severe weather warnings issued by Nepal's Department of Tourism, which had cautioned against climbing and trekking expeditions between September 25 and September 27 due to heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, gale-force winds, and high-altitude snowfall driven by a weather system originating over the Bay of Bengal. The unrelenting weather has disrupted climbing activities across the Himalayan nation, forcing multiple expeditions on Mount Manaslu and Mount Dhaulagiri to suspend operations and retreat to lower altitudes as rescue teams race against time to locate the missing workers.
