Rescuers search for hundreds of bodies buried in Nepal

The bodies of up to 300 people may still be buried on slopes near a mountain town in Nepal by an avalanche set off by last month's earthquake, a local official said on Thursday.

Rescuers pulled out six bodies from the Langtang village area, 60 km north of Kathmandu, on Wednesday but operations were being hampered by bad weather, said Gautam Rimal, assistant district administrator in the area.

About 100 bodies were recovered in the area on Saturday and Sunday and Rimal had previously said about 120 more were buried there.

But on Thursday he said the number could be as high as 300, including 110 foreigners.

“There are body parts, broken limbs and pieces of flesh scattered in the area,” he said.

The government has said 7,759 people were killed in the April 25 earthquake and more than 16,000 injured.

Langtang is on a trekking route popular with Westerners and the village had 55 guesthouses catering for visitors. The village was wiped out by the avalanche but it was not clear how many people were there at the time.

As rescuers hunted for people in Langtang, seven further bodies including of that of a German trekker were recovered at Manaslu, another climbing site.

The earthquake and subsequent landslides swept away trekking trails in both areas. More than 13,000 foreign hikers visit the area annually.

"We don't know exactly how many people were in Langtang village at the time of disaster," said Uddhav Bhattarai, a local government official, said.

“More than three dozen workers at a nearby hydroelectric project are also unaccounted for. A search for them is also continuing.”

Reuters