Kathmandu, Aug 8 (IANS) A police team has been unable to reach the base camp of Yalung Ri mountain in Nepal’s Rolwaling range in Dolakha district for the past three days to recover five bodies believed to be those of climbers buried in a deadly avalanche last year.
After receiving information about the five bodies on Thursday, a team of police personnel, along with officials from the company whose expedition team was caught in the avalanche last year, flew to the area on Friday morning to recover them.
“Because of bad weather and incessant rainfall in the area, we failed to reach the location on Friday and Saturday,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Lama of the District Police Office, Dolakha, told IANS. “The helicopter has been stationed at Simi village near the mountain peak.”
He said the team was waiting for favourable weather conditions to reach the site where the bodies were found.
The avalanche struck the base camp of the 5,630-metre peak while climbers were acclimatising before attempting nearby summits, killing seven people, including five foreigners and two Nepali high-altitude guides.
The bodies were discovered after melting snow exposed human remains, prompting local residents and the concerned expedition company to alert the authorities.
“Five people — three foreigners and two Nepalis — went missing in last year’s avalanche, and there is a high possibility that the bodies are those of the mountaineers who lost their lives in the disaster,” Lama said.
After several unsuccessful attempts to recover the bodies buried by the avalanche, the search for the five missing climbers was called off last year.
On the first day of the rescue operation last year, the bodies of two climbers were recovered and flown to Kathmandu for post-mortem examinations. The victims were part of a group of 12 mountaineers ascending from the base camp to climb the peak.
Police said the identities of the five newly discovered bodies will be confirmed after they are recovered and subjected to forensic examination.
Yalung Ri is regarded as a relatively accessible trekking peak and is a popular destination for climbers seeking high-altitude mountaineering experience.
–IANS
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