No hope of survivors in Nepal avalanche: French guides

KATMANDU - Agence France-Presse

AFP Photo

Rescuers have given up hope of finding more survivors of a Nepal avalanche which left at least nine people dead, a French mountain guide organisation which has been in close contact with them said Monday.

"The searches have been abandoned for today and could be definitively... because it is thought there is no hope of finding any of the missing alive," said Christian Trommsdorff, the vice-president of the National Union of Mount Guides (SNGM).
 
"The avalanche happened in an area of crevasses and it may be impossible to recover the bodies," he added.
 
Rescuers have been unable to find two Frenchmen and a Canadian who were part of a group hit by a wall of snow in their tents near the peak of the 8,156-metre (26,759-foot) Manaslu in the early hours of Sunday.
 
The Canadian has been identified by his sister as a doctor from the French-speaking province of Quebec.
 
The missing French nationals are a mountain guide from the Chamonix region and an amateur climber.
 
Eight of the nine confirmed dead have been identified as four French nationals, a Nepali mountain guide, a Spaniard, a German and an Italian.

Five climbers rescued after deadly Nepal avalanche: police

Five climbers were rescued today after an avalanche swept away their tents and killed nine of their companions in Nepal ahead of a final push on one of the world's highest mountains, police said.
 
"We were able to rescue five more," said local police chief Basanta Bahadur Kunwar, adding he had no information on the nationality of those rescued.

Two French climbers and a Canadian were still missing, police said, after an avalanche which killed nine people ahead of an attempt on one of the world's highest mountains.
 
"We have now stopped helicopter rescue operations. Two French and a Canadian mountaineer are still missing. Sherpa guides are in the mountains searching for them," said district police chief Basanta Bahadur Kunwar.