The Associated Press Katmandu, Nepal -- At least 26 people were feared dead Saturday after a strong avalanche struck their camp near Mount Everest. Thirteen Japanese trekkers and 13 Nepalese including 11 guides were at the camp in the vilage of Panga on Friday night when the avalanche hit, said Takashi Miyahara of the Trans-Himalyan Trekking Co., which conducted the trekkers' group. The group was returning from the 17,655 foot high Gokyo Peak, about 11 miles southwest of Everest, the world's highest peak. Rescuers reached the camping site on Saturday using a helicopter. "The area was completely covered by snow. We could only see rooftops of the huts where the trekkers were staying," Miyahara said. Submitted by Bruce Tremper, UAFC Director **************************************************** This was in Reuters' New wire service on Saturday, Nov. 11 KATHMANDU (Reuter) A huge avalanche struck the overnight camp of a Japanese trekking group in the Mount Everest region of Nepal Saturday, killing 26 people, including 13 Japanese, as they slept, rescue and hiking officials said. The wave of snow buried 11 guides and porters, as well as two residents of the Pangka region near Everest, the world's highest peak, Takashi Miyahara, chairman of Trans Himalayan Treks, told Reuters in the Nepali capital Kathmandu. It was believed to be the biggest avalanche disaster to hit a trekking or mountaineering expedition in Nepal, where majestic peaks and pristine valleys attract about 65,000 foreign hikers and climbers every year. In Nepal's worst mountaineering accident, 14 mountaineers, mostly Koreans, were killed over two days in 1972 by avalanches on Mount Manaslu, the world's eighth highest peak at 26,775 feet. In the latest disaster, 19 people, including 15 foreigners, were evacuated from the area after the avalanche swept over the camp at 1 a.m., an official of Trans Himalayan Treks, which organized the trek, said. The rescue helicopter ferried them to Syangboche district. Helicopter pilot Tashi Sherpa told Reuters after returning from a search mission that only the rooftops of houses could be seen and the bodies were buried under snow. ``It is confirmed that they are dead,'' he said. Miyahara, who accompanied the rescue team to the site, said three lodges were buried under snow. Triggered by a huge cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, some six feet of snow fell in the mountainous region this week, apparently catching the trekkers off guard. The trekking party, which included local Sherpa guides and porters, was returning from Gokyo Valley, which has long been popular with Western trekkers who do not seek high altitude climbing. The valley is about 12 miles southwest of Everest and 170 miles from Kathmandu. The pilot Sherpa said the evacuated trekkers were all unhurt. Their nationalities were not immediately known. Stan Armington of Malla Treks in Kathmandu said 500 to 1,000 foreigners come to the Himalayan kingdom every year to climb peaks, while more than 60,000 more visitors are trekkers. ********************************************** From the Wall Stree Journal, 85 rescued, 18 japanese and nepalese trekkers dead. Seven other s are missing. In Western Nepal, 11 people died in a landslide. Heavy rain was the casue of the landslide, and avalanche. ********************************************** Nov. 13 Kathmandu Post, KATHMANDU, Nov 12 - Rescuers have so far recovered 10 bodies of Japanese trekkers and 8 bodies of Sherpas buried in an avalanche in the Gokyo area in Khumbu region on Sunday. One Nepalese guide was reportedly found alive while three Japanese trekkers are still missing. Rescue team has airlifted 85 persons to safety from the Gokyo area, officials told The Kathmandu Post Sunday. Officials said rescuers were also trying to airlift about 25 trekkers in the Manang region which was also struck by a landslide Friday following two days of torrential rains. So far 33 persons, including 22 foreign tourists, have been reported dead by the avalanche and landslide and officials fear the figure could mount as the operation continues. Meanwhile tour operators say, more than 50 trekkers were in the Gokyo area when the avalanche hit at around 1 PM Saturday. There could be more tourists in the area since other tour operators also handle trekking tours in the region, said a Trans Himalayan Tours official. His agency was handling 13 Japanese tourists and all of them are feared dead. In Manang, Bagaarchaap, search team has found all 11 bodies of tourists swept away by the landslide. Four bodies of European trekkers were airlifted to the capital on Sunday. According to police the dead include a Canadian and a woman from Ireland. The nationalities of the other foreigners is yet to be established. Of the eight Nepali villagers reported missing in the area, the bodies of seven have been recovered. We fear that there could be more casualties, since local lodge owners say most of the lodgers have gone missing, Palden Gurung, the MP for Manang said shortly after arriving from his constituency. Gurung estimated the damage in Manang to be worth around Rs 20 million. The landslide also swept away 17 houses in the area. The tragedy which struck the nations Himalayan region is considered the worst ever. Last year 13 climbers lost their lives on the slopes of Mt. Pisang in Dhaulagiri zone. In the aftermath of the tragedy, a rescue task force has been formed here in the capital comprising the Tourism Ministry, Himalayan Rescue Association, Trekking Agents Association Nepal, Nepal Mountaineering Institute and the Nepal Police. Royal Nepal Army is also conducting rescue helicopter flights in both the areas. Rescue flights are being operated along Hinku valley, Makalu Barun area, Kanchanjunga, Ghunsa and Everest regions in the east and along Gorkha, Manaslu, Larkela Pass and Thorongla Pass in the west. In places where helicopters have been unable to land due to heavy snow, rations and first aid equipment have been dropped where people have been sighted. Snow in the Gokyo region is 3.5 metres deep. As the rescue operations continue, new information has emerged that suggests the lives might have been saved had the tour operators asked for a special weather forecast from the Department of Meteorology, and had the department foreseen the foul weather that was to hit Gokyo area. The Department puts out a special weather bulletin only on request, and department officials said tour operators sometimes ask for such bulletins. They did not request this time, an official said. However, even if such a request had been placed, it would not have been of any help. According to an official in the Department, his agency had not foreseen any foul weather in the Himalayas that day. That is surprising, say observers, who point out that most of South Asia was experiencing the effects of a cyclone which hit the Bay of Bengal around that time. ********************************************** Reuters News Service, Nov. 16 Hope it's useful. KATHMANDU, Nepal (Reuter) - Rescuers in helicopters found seven bodies buried in snow Tuesday, raising the death toll in one of Nepal's worst avalanche disasters to 49. Searchers continued to try to find foreign trekkers still stranded in the Himalayas. The bodies of four Nepali nationals were found with three dead Japanese near Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain some 300 miles east of the Himalayan kingdom's capital Kathmandu. Rescuers continued to search Tuesday for foreign trekkers stranded in the Himalayan mountains by a snowstorm that dumped two feet of snow on the area. A huge avalanche buried 25 people near Mount Everest. Others died as houses collapsed elsewhere in Nepal. By midday Tuesday, helicopters had plucked 477 people including 178 foreigners from the snows, mostly from the Everest region which was the hardest hit area. The names of those who were evacuated were not available. ``This is the first time that such a large trekking area has been hit by disaster,'' government spokesman Prachanda Man Shrestha said. Officials said hundreds, perhaps thousands, of foreign trekkers had set out on hiking expeditions across the Himalayan kingdom before the freak snow storm, churned up by a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, hit the region. November is the peak season for trekkers. Some 9,000 foreigners registered in the three weeks to November 8 for trekking expeditions in seven locations. About 2,700 said they planned to go to the Everest region, while 3,200 were headed to Annapurna area and another 300 to the Kanchenjunga region. Officials said they did not know exactly how many trekkers, guides and porters had been trapped in the mountains by freezing cold weather, deep snow and avalanches. Monday helicopters ferried survivors from the Gokyo valley in the Everest region, Manang in mid-west Nepal and Langtang in central Nepal, Shrestha said. ********************************************** (Excerpt) Nepal - Consular Information Sheet December 8, 1995 In November 1995, unusually severe storms caused avalanches and landslides that killed foreign trekkers and their Nepalese guides and stranded hundreds of others. The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu strongly advises all American citizens to exercise extreme care when trekking at higher altitudes for the remainder of the season. Although trails may be clear, trekkers should be alert to the possibility of avalanches from slopes above. Checking on conditions in the high country before leaving Kathmandu can help to reduce risks. Both the U.S. Embassy and the Himalayan Rescue Association are good sources of information about trail conditions and possible hazards. ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- Archives of past "travel-advisories" postings are available at the URL: "http://www.stolaf.edu/network/travel-advisories.html" or via Gopher: gopher.stolaf.edu, Internet Resources/US-State-Department-Travel-Advisories ********************************************** The Detroit News ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- November 16, 1995 [News ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hikers in Nepal spared from deadly avalanche By Dilip Ganguly, Associated Press KATMANDU, Nepal -- Feeling uneasy at an unexpected snowfall, the Nepalese guide woke Ron and Deborah Plotkin in their tent in the dead of night and told them pack up. Moments later, the mountain toppled with a rumble. The avalanche just missed the Plotkins. For the next three days, they and their guide crawled and stumbled through thick banks of snow and waded across icy rivers, trying to reach safety. At night, they dug caves in the snow for shelter, and thought of their three children in San Diego: Ian, 14, Rachel, 9, and Melia, 5. "I prayed to God: 'Don't snatch me from them, please. They need us,'" said Deborah Plotkin, 41. Forty-six people, including one of the Plotkins' six Sherpa guides, were killed in avalanches and landslides last weekend in one of Nepal's worst disasters in decades. Another 517 people, including 238 foreigners, have been rescued. But hundreds of hikers and Nepalese villagers may still be trapped in the Himalayan mountains, including more than a dozen Americans. Helicopters rescued nearly 60 people on Wednesday and were continuing the search. The Gokyo Valley trails buried under the avalanches, along the ancient trading route between Tibet and Nepal, are popular with adventure tourists because they offer panoramic views of the world's tallest mountains, including the 29,028-foot Mt. Everest. The secretive kingdom opened its borders to outsiders and its majestic mountains to tourism in 1950. "It was a dream trip," said Deborah Plotkin, a teacher. They set off Nov. 1 with six Nepalese porters and guides, and two yaks to carry their baggage, on an expedition to 20,423-foot high Island Peak. On Friday, when the couple pitched their tents at 6 p.m., it started snowing. "The little flakes seemed innocuous," said Plotkin, a 39-year-old psychologist. But at 2.30 a.m., a guide woke them. As they came out of their tent, they heard a rumbling sound, and tons of snow crashed down near their camp site. "Just after the sound, I looked back and saw four of our Nepalese staff gone," apparently buried under the snow, said Deborah Plotkin. Snow had piled up to nearly six feet. Even the yaks couldn't move. "And then the crawling started. We could move only 20 feet in one hour," Ron Plotkin said. Before dusk Saturday, they and their guide dug a cave in the snow to protect them overnight. "I came out of the snow cave and looked at the sky and I saw one glittering star," said Deborah Plotkin, struggling to speak through tears. After crawling and stumbling for another day, they spent the second night in a makeshift cave. Then on Monday, they found a path in the snow and followed it to the tiny hamlet of Chikoon. One of their guides, Ram Kumar, died of the cold. But they learned later that the four who were buried in the avalanche managed to escape. "When I saw people, I ran despite the pain, and we were welcomed by a group of trekkers," Deborah Plotkin said. A helicopter rescued them. Copyright 1995, The Detroit News