Published : 01 Oct 2026, 08:09 PM
Updated : 01 Oct 2026, 08:09 PM
At least 15 Nepali workers were killed when an avalanche buried a mountain camp they were preparing in central Nepal for foreign climbers, a rescue official said on Thursday, in the deadliest incident of the autumn climbing season.
The avalanche struck the base camp of the 7,126-metre Himlung Himal in northern Manang district over the weekend, burying workers who were pitching tents and fixing ropes. One worker remains missing.
Rescuers have recovered 15 bodies from the site, said Tul Singh Gurung, president of the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association.
Eight bodies were recovered from beneath the snow on Thursday, while seven others were retrieved earlier in the week.
“The bodies that were recovered [on Thursday] are expected to be brought by a helicopter to Kathmandu,” Gurung told Reuters.
He said the chances of finding the missing worker were dim and the rescue operation was likely to wind up.
The foreign climbers had not reached the site when the avalanche struck.
Thousands of visitors travel to Nepal each year to visit or climb its mountains, providing work for tens of thousands of people as guides, porters and other staff, as well as in tourism-related jobs.
But the work has become increasingly dangerous as climate change accelerates the melting of glaciers and ice.
