Two French climbers, one Canadian, still missing after deadly Nepal avalanche

Two French mountain-climbers and one Canadian are still missing after the avalanche on Nepal’s Manaslu mountain that left at least nine people dead, four of them French. Five survivors were airlifted from the base camp on Sunday.

Reuters

Helicopter searches had stopped on Monday morning but sherpas were still searching for

Update

The search for the missing climbers was suspended on Monday and may not start again, Christian Trommsdorff of the French mountain guides' union said. Guides at the base camp told him that rescuers believe there is no longer any hope of finding them.

them, according to local police chief Basanta Bahadur Kunwar.

Eight mountaineers chose to stay at the base camp, having sustained no injuries, according to Kunwar, who said that they would either walk down or make a new attempt to reach the peak.

Nepal’s tourism board earlier said that seven people were missing but police said that four of them were among the 13 rescued on Sunday.

The accident, which took place at dawn Sunday, was one of the worst to take place in the Himalayas over the last few decades.

Three of the dead are mountain guides from the French town of Chamonix, at the foot of Mont Blanc where nine climbers were killed in an avalanche last July. Their names of the victims had not been made public on Monday.

Manaslu is the world’s eighth highest mountain.