Himalayas Blizzard and Avalanche Kill at Least 20; Dozens Missing

Kathmandu, Nepal: A blizzard and avalanche in Nepal's storied Himalayas climbing region have killed at least 20 people, nearly half of them foreigners, in the midst of the October trekking season, district officials said Wednesday. Dozens were reported missing.

The death toll eclipsed the last major mountaineering disaster in the Himalayas, when 16 Sherpas died in an avalanche six months ago on Mount Everest, the worst climbing calamity in Everest's history.

Officials said as many as 100 trekkers were caught by the latest weather, which began bearing down on the Himalayas on Tuesday, part of the stormy aftermath of a cyclone that ravaged India's eastern coast two days earlier.

While dozens of trekkers and others were rescued Wednesday, heavy accumulations of snow - more than 2 feet in some areas - forced the Nepal army and police to suspend further rescue actions until Thursday.

The army, guided by trekkers that they had rescued, recovered 12 trekkers' bodies near Thorong La, a pass along a popular trekking circuit, at a height of about 13,000 feet, according to the Mustang chief district officer, Baburam Bhandari. The dead included two Israeli tourists and two Poles, as well as eight Nepali trekkers who were trapped in a blizzard.

In Manang district, four Canadians and one Indian trekker were buried in an avalanche along the mountain pass. Their bodies will take days to dig out of the snow, said Devendra Lamichhane, the chief district officer in Manang.

In the same district, the bodies of three yak herders who disappeared on Monday, swept away in a separate avalanche, were found, but rescuers were unable to recover them Wednesday.

October is one of the most popular trekking months in Nepal, when thousands often visit because the weather is usually ideal for hiking. Mountaineering tourism is one of the most important economic drivers for impoverished Nepal.

The April disaster on Everest, the world's highest mountain, led to threats by Sherpas to stop working because of the dangers and caused widespread cancellations of trekking expeditions.