Rescuers search for 12 missing after Nepal avalanche kills two

Rescuers continued operations after an avalanche struck a base camp on Mount Himlung, a 7,126-metre peak in Nepal’s Manang district, killing two Nepali nationals and sweeping away multiple expedition workers. The incident occurred on Sunday amid heavy rain and severe weather that has affected large parts of the country. At least 10 people were pulled to safety following the avalanche; the remains of two people killed in the incident were airlifted to Kathmandu on Monday and transported to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Tul Singh Gurung, president of the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association, said rescuers worked into the evening and that a team of eight mountain guides was taking part in the search. He told AFP the search was continuing for 14 expedition workers reported missing. District officials said the avalanche came after heavy rainfall that also caused flooding and landslides in Manang over the weekend. The base camp had been preparing for foreign clients arriving for the autumn climbing season, which began this month; all those killed or missing in this incident were Nepali nationals. The avalanche follows a period of widespread flooding across Nepal. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported that between Thursday and Sunday 21 people were killed and five were missing in separate incidents across the country, and said that in the aftermath of August’s devastating floods more than 1,400 people died, about 5,500 remained missing and 13,795 had been rescued. Researchers from World Weather Attribution recently described the overall crisis as a "compound" event driven by long-term warming, glacier retreat, permafrost thaw and geological instability, rather than a single extreme weather episode.