The Nepal police and local volunteers found the bodies of about 100 trekkers and villagers buried in an avalanche set off by last month’s devastating earthquake and were digging through snow and ice for signs of dozens more missing, officials said on Monday.
The bodies were recovered on Saturday and Sunday at the Langtang village, 60km north of Kathmandu, which is on a trekking route popular with westerners. The entire village, which includes 55 guesthouses for trekkers, was wiped out by the avalanche, officials said, Reuters wrote.
“Local volunteers and police personnel are digging through six-feet (deep) snow with shovels looking for more bodies,” said Gautam Rimal, assistant chief district officer in the area where Langtang is located.
At least 18 of the deaths were on Mount Everest, where avalanches hit the slopes of the world’s highest peak. The government said on Monday that it had not closed the mountain to climbers, although the route up to the peak was damaged.
Climbers pay $11,000 each to climb Everest, and 357 were registered for this climbing season. Last year, the government extended permits when teams abandoned their expeditions after an avalanche killed 16 Sherpa mountain guides.
