Survivors of a Himalayan blizzard that killed at least 29 people in Nepal said on Thursday they dived under a boulder to shelter from an avalanche that buried four Canadians in their group when it smashed into the trail.
Mountain rescue teams, helped by clear weather and armed with shovels, ropes and ice axes, scoured an area buried under snow more than a metre deep for 10 hikers still missing after the early winter blizzard and avalanches hit an Annapurna trekking route popular with backpackers.
Police official Ganesh Rai said 154 people, including 76 foreigners, were rescued on Thursday but the 10 missing were presumed dead. Coming six months after an ice-avalanche killed 16 sherpa guides on Mount Everest, the latest mountain disaster prompted new criticism of the Nepali government for taking climbers’ fees but doing little to mitigate the risks.
A group of seven Canadian trekkers and their guides were near the high-altitude village of Phu, 150km northwest of Kathmandu, when an avalanche struck on Wednesday. Four were killed immediately. The group’s guide, Kusang Sherpa, described the sound of snow splitting above and said he and three of the trekkers were able to leap behind the rock.
“I thought it was the last day in my life,” he told Reuters after being evacuated to Kathmandu. “I was lucky that I survived with my three clients.”
The snow did not reach the boulder, but they stayed there for about 20 minutes until they were sure the avalanche had stabilised, then walked an hour to a village called Kang, where they telephoned for help and were picked up by a helicopter.
Cyclone
Those killed by the unseasonable weather, brought by the tail end of a cyclone that struck
India
last weekend, included three Nepali yak herders, four Nepali guides, two people from Slovakia, three Israelis, three Poles, four Canadians and three Indians. The nationalities of the rest have not been confirmed, officials said.
October is Nepal’s peak trekking season, when clear skies offer safe access to the mountains and spectacular views, attracting backpackers as well as experienced climbers.
Rescue efforts focused on the highest point on a trail that loops around Annapurna, the world’s 10th-highest peak.
Permits
The 240km Annapurna circuit takes almost three weeks to complete and is perhaps the most popular walking route in the Himalayas. It is dubbed the “apple pie” circuit because teahouses line the route offering cold beer and home baking.
The Nepali government, which collects up to $20 per trekker for a permit – about $4 million annually – came under fire from hiking officials for doing little to improve safety conditions. “The government is happy collecting money from trekkers but doing nothing for them. It must now spend the cash for making arrangements for weather forecasts and a quick response for rescue when hikers are in distress,” said Keshav Panday, an official of the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains. Tourism accounts for 4 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, supporting more than 500,000 jobs last year and generating $420 million in revenue, according to a report by the World Travel and Tourism Council. Nepal attracted nearly 800,000 tourists last year and had been expecting more than 860,000 this year.
Trekkers accounted for more than 12 per cent of tourists in 2013 and Nepal’s government receives up to $4 million annually in trekking licenses alone. But the April disaster on Everest led to threats by Sherpas to stop working. Many expeditions were cancelled and tourists forfeited tens of thousands of dollars. – Reuters and New York Times service