A group of five South Korean climbers and four Nepali guides and porters have been killed after a storm hit a camp on a Himalayan peak in west Nepal, officials said on Saturday. The storm involves the largest group to be hit by a climbing accident in Nepal in two years.
Their camp have been destroyed by a storm on Friday and two rescue helicopters sent early Saturday were unable to land because of bad weather conditions on the mountain, said police official Bir Bahadur Budamagar. He also said locals had helped rescuers retrieve the nine bodies from near their base camp on Mount Gurja, a 7,193-metre (23,600ft) peak about 135 miles (215km) north-west of Kathmandu.
“The bodies of all five Koreans and four Nepalis have been identified,” he told Reuters from Myagdi district where the accident took place.
The South Korean expedition was being led by Kim Chang-ho, the first South Korean to reach the summits of the world’s 14 highest mountains without using supplemental oxygen, is among the dead.
The world’s 14 highest mountains are located in Nepal, including Mount Everest, and the autumn climbing season is in full swing. The country’s major source of revenue is the income from foreign climbers.
> Shiuly Rina
Nine Climbers Killed in Himalayan Storm in Nepal
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