Overview
- Rescuers suspended operations after an avalanche hit the Himlung Himal base camp on Sunday, and teams have recovered four bodies while 12 Nepali support workers remain missing.
- A specialist team led by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa reached the site and said the scale of the avalanche and deep snow make survival unlikely.
- Searchers dug through more than four metres of snow and found tents buried under 13–14 feet of snow, with two mountain guides and two kitchen staff recovered in earlier days.
- Officials corrected chaotic early headcounts that initially ranged as high as 22, with Nepal Police and guide association updates settling on 12 people still out of contact.
- The pause comes as Nepal copes with a recent glacial collapse and widespread floods that have strained rescue, forensic and logistical resources and increased risks for the country’s high-altitude workforce.