Yalung Ri Five Bodies Spotted at Nepal Site Where Climbers Went Missing

Rescue teams search for missing climbers on Yalung Ri in Nepal.

Yalung Ri rescue workers have spotted five bodies at a site where five climbers went missing after an avalanche last year, officials said Saturday.

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Three foreign climbers and two Nepali nationals disappeared in November after an avalanche struck the 5,630-metre mountain in Dolakha district.

The missing climbers included an Italian Canadian, an Italian and a German, along with two Nepali nationals. Two other climbers, an Italian and a French national, died at the mountain’s base camp.

Rescue efforts delayed by bad weather

Workers from a hiking company searching for the missing climbers spotted the bodies on Friday, according to Thabindra Kumar Kafle of Gaurishankar Rural Municipality.

However, rescue teams have not yet reached the location. Bad weather has prevented them from moving towards the site.

Phurba Tenjing Sherpa of Dreamers’ Destination, the company that guided the foreign climbers, said a helicopter was waiting nearby for visibility to improve.

“The bodies may have come out after the snow melted,” Sherpa said.

Authorities have not yet confirmed whether the bodies belong to the five climbers who disappeared last year.

Mountain remains difficult to access

Yalung Ri lies in Nepal’s northeastern Rolwaling Valley near the border with China’s Tibet region. The mountain rises to 5,630 metres and features challenging routes across rock, ice and snow.

Meanwhile, rescue officials are waiting for better weather before they can reach the site and begin identifying the bodies.

The discovery could provide a breakthrough in the search for the climbers, but officials are expected to confirm their identities only after rescue teams reach the location.

Irfan