American climbers among 7 killed in avalanche on Nepal mountain
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Three U.S. citizens were among seven people killed when an avalanche swept through a camp on Nepal’s Yalung Ri Mountain, police in the South Asian country said Monday.
Two Nepalese guides were also killed, as well as a Canadian and an Italian citizen, Gyan Kumar Mahato, deputy superintendent of the Nepal Police, told NBC News. Four people were missing and four others were injured in the incident, Mahato said.
The group of five climbers and 10 Nepali guides left Monday morning to climb Yalung Ri, he said. But the entire team was buried by an avalanche around 8:30 a.m. local time (10:30 p.m. Sunday ET), he added.
“Due to bad weather, helicopters could not fly and a land rescue was impossible,” Mahato said, adding that several attempts were made during the day.
But he said a helicopter had finally managed to reach the village of Na, located to the east of the mountain, and land-based rescue teams had also been deployed.
The rescue operation on the 18,370-foot mountain would resume Tuesday morning, he said.
The camp was located at an altitude of 16,070 feet, armed police spokesman Shailendra Thapa told Reuters.
The Nepalese army, armed police and regular police would assist in the search, Mahato said.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest.
While spring is the most popular climbing season, as the weather is favorable on the high peaks, hundreds of foreign climbers come to climb smaller peaks in autumn, between the rainy monsoon months and winter.
