Overview
- Rescuers recovered four bodies and evacuated about ten survivors by helicopter after an avalanche struck the Himlung Himal base camp when sherpas and cooks were preparing the site for an expedition.
- Reports of missing people vary across sources, with tallies ranging roughly from six to 14 and some mountain guide groups specifically citing 12 cooks unaccounted for.
- Poor weather, deep snow measured in meters over the camp and limited communications have repeatedly slowed or paused on-the-ground searches and made helicopter missions essential and weather-dependent.
- The victims and most of the missing are Nepali support staff rather than foreign climbers, and the team had been readying the camp for a UAE climbing group expected in early October.
- The avalanche adds to Nepal’s season of extreme-weather disasters after a late‑August glacial flood and threatens mountain tourism and local livelihoods as authorities coordinate rescue, casualty counts and access restrictions.