South Koreans among 7 missing in Himalayan avalanche

KATHMANDU, Nepal - Four South Koreans and three Nepalis are missing and about 200 people have been rescued after an avalanche hit trekkers on the Annapurna region in the Himalayas, officials said Saturday.

South Korea was to send an emergency team to Nepal to help in a desperate search operation.

The incident occurred at an altitude of about 3,230 meters (10,600 feet) close to Annapurna base camp following heavy snowfall on Friday.

Six of the missing are from one trekking expedition while one Nepali porter is from a different group.

"A search operation is underway for the seven out of contact," Mira Acharya of Nepal's tourism department told AFP.

About 200 people have been rescued from the avalanche-hit zone as well as other trekking routes after the weather eased to let helicopters fly in.

The four were part of an 11-member team from South Korea. Others from the team are safe.

Ang Dorjee Sherpa of the Korean Alpine Federation said it had been snowing in the area since the last two days, making their trek risky.

"The weather and snow got worse and, feeling it was becoming dangerous and difficult, they decided to turn. As they were heading back they were hit by an avalanche," Sherpa said.

Annapurna is an avalanche-prone and technically difficult mountain with a higher death rate than Everest, the world's highest peak.

Kim Sung-hwa, a South Korean trekker in Kathmandu after a trek in the Langtang region in eastern Nepal said he had to cut his trip short after abnormally heavy snow.

"Winter is a dry season (in Nepal) and you don't (normally) see a lot of snow. But due to abnormal weather conditions... even here, when we went to Langtang, there was a heavy snow and rain," Kim said.

"I heard the news this morning and as a trekker and a fellow (South Korean) citizen who like and love Nepal, I feel heart-stricken."

Education officials in South Korea said the four South Koreans were part of a team of volunteer teachers working with children in Nepal.

South Korea's foreign ministry said an emergency team would be sent to Nepal and that the families of those missing had been informed. The volunteers were from Chungcheong province.

Thousands of trekkers visit the Annapurna region every year for its stunning views of the Himalayas.

In 2014, a snowstorm killed about 40 people on the popular circuit, in one of the biggest trekking tragedies to hit Nepal.

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Death toll in Nepal floods rises to 55, thousands displaced

KATHMANDU - The death toll in Nepal from flash floods and landslides in the past three days rose to 55 on Sunday, with dozens missing and injured, the government said.

Ten thousand people have been displaced from their homes as incessant monsoon rains pounded many areas in mostly mountainous Nepal since Thursday, submerging large swathes of land, inundating homes, and destroying bridges and roads across the country.

A Home Ministry statement said 55 people had been confirmed dead and 33 injured. There are 30 missing.

India's northeastern state of Assam has also been hard hit by the floods brought by the monsoon, with at least 1.5 million people displaced and 10 dead. And in the Chittagong division of Bangladesh there have been 10 deaths and about 500,000 displaced as 200 villages have been flooded.

In Nepal, cabinet spokesman Gokul Banskota told reporters that "the disaster has caused a big loss to the economy". The government will make an assessment soon, he added.

Nepal Red Cross spokesman Dibya Raj Poudel said the displaced had been sheltered in schools and other public buildings.

Television channels showed roofs of houses submerged in flood waters in the southern plains and people wading through chest-deep water with their belongings on their heads.

Officials said in some areas rains had eased but some rivers in the eastern part of the country were still above flood level. Authorities asked residents to remain alert.

The Kosi River, which flows into the eastern Indian state of Bihar, was among those that had risen above the flood level.

Nepal police official Ishwari Dahal said all 56 sluice gates of the Kosi barrage on the Nepal-India border had been opened last night for six hours to drain out 371,000 cusecs of water, the highest accumulation in 15 years. A cusec is a measurement of flow, equivalent to one cubic foot per second.

"Its water level has gone down now," Dahal told Reuters from the barrage site in southeast Nepal.

The Kosi has been a serious concern for both India and Nepal since it broke its banks in 2008 and changed course, submerging swathes of land and affecting more than 2 million people in India's Bihar state. About 500 people died in that disaster. 

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; edited by Christian Schmollinger and Louise Heavens)

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Himalayan glaciers melting far faster this century - study

LONDON, United Kingdom—Himalayan glaciers have been melting twice as fast since the start of this century, underscoring the threat the climate crisis poses to water supplies for hundreds of millions of people across Asia, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Scientists have long been trying to establish how quickly rising global temperatures caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas are eating away at the region's icebound landscapes, sometimes referred to as Earth's third pole.

The new analysis, spanning 40 years of satellite observations across India, China, Nepal and Bhutan, showed glaciers have been losing the equivalent of more than a vertical foot-and-a-half of ice each year since 2000. That represents double the rate between 1975 and 2000.

"This is the clearest picture yet of how fast Himalayan glaciers are melting over this time interval, and why," lead author Joshua Maurer, a PhD candidate at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said in a statement.

Although the study, published in Science Advances, did not attempt to ascertain precisely how much ice had melted, Maurer said the glaciers may have lost as much as a quarter of their mass over the last 40 years.

The accelerated melting appears to be swelling rivers during warm seasons, but scientists are concerned about the long-term impact on irrigation, hydropower and drinking water supplies that support some 800 million people.

Joseph Shea, a glacial geographer at the University of Northern British Columbia, who was not involved in the study, said the findings demonstrated that even glaciers in the world's highest mountains were being affected by higher temperatures.

"In the long term, this will lead to changes in the timing and magnitude of streamflow in a heavily populated region," Shea said.

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American climber dies on descent from summit of Mount Everest

KATHMANDU, Nepal - An American climber died on the descent from the summit of Mount Everest on Monday, a Nepalese official said, taking the number of dead or missing mountaineers on the world's highest mountain to 9 on the Nepali side during the current climbing season.

Christopher John Kulish, 61, scaled the 8,850 meter (29,035 feet) peak from the normal Southeast Ridge route in the morning but died suddenly at South Col after descending from the summit, Mira Acharya, a Nepal tourism department official said.

The authorities did not say where he was from in the United States. The cause of his death was unclear.

Most of the deaths on Everest this year have been attributed to exhaustion and tiredness, exacerbated because a crowded route to and from the summit has led to delays. The short climbing season ends this month.

The route, also called the South Col route, was pioneered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

About 5,000 people have scaled the Everest summit so far and about 300 have died on its slopes.

Two climbers are also confirmed dead on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest this climbing season.

A record 381 climbers had been permitted to scale the summit from the Nepali side this season. About 130 others were tackling Everest from the mountain's northern side in Tibet.

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Cyclone Fani fallout blows tents off Everest

High winds blamed on Cyclone Fani more than 900 kilometers away blew tents off the side of Mount Everest on Friday, officials said.

Fallout from the deadly storm, which hit India's Bay of Bengal coast on Friday, spread across South Asia — including the world's highest mountain.

The monster storm was not predicted to go near Nepal, but the country's Meteorological Forecasting Division predicted effect from Fani would cause snow, rain and strong winds in the country. 

About 20 tents at Everest's Camp 2, at 6,400 meters (21,000 feet), were affected.

"Very strong winds blew the tents off the mountain but no-one was hurt," Ishwori Poudel, general secretary of the Expedition Operators Association, told AFP. 

With the spring climbing season looming, several teams have postponed acclimatisation on Everest fearing the bad weather. 

"The effects of that storm mean we are likely to see significant snowfall and high winds on the mountain," expedition company Climbing the Seven Summits wrote on its blog. 

The company said its climbers would wait at base camp until the storm has passed. 

The Nepalese government has issued a warning to trekking and climbing companies to ensure the safety of tourists, and cautioned helicopters against flying.

The thousands of climbers who flock to Nepal each year to try eight of the world's 14 highest peaks provide a lucrative industry for the impoverished South Asian country.

Nepal has issued a record 377 permits to climb Everest this year.

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Snowstorm kills nine climbers on Nepal peak

KATHMANDU- All nine members of a South Korean climbing expedition were confirmed dead Saturday after a violent snowstorm devastated their camp on Nepal's Mount Gurja, one of the deadliest mountaineering accidents to hit the Himalayan nation in recent years.

The bodies of eight climbers -- four South Koreans and four Nepali guides -- were spotted among the wreckage of their camp by a rescue team early Saturday morning, but strong winds and icy conditions were hampering the search effort.

A fifth South Korean climber was initially reported missing, but officials have now confirmed that he was at the camp when the deadly storm hit and is believed to have also perished. 

"A mountain expedition of five South Korean nationals and four foreigners were swept off by strong winds at the base camp during their climb to Mount Gurja. (They) fell off a cliff and died," the South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement.

Helicopter pilot Siddartha Gurung was among the first people to reach the site after the deadly storm and described a scene of total destruction with the tents flattened and the climber's bodies scattered across the area.

"Everything is gone, all the tents are blown apart," Gurung told AFP.

Gurung landed a helicopter just above the expedition team's camp, but icy and unstable conditions meant they were unable to retrieve any of the bodies.

Nepal's tourism department said a second helicopter was being sent to the site Saturday afternoon.

"A helicopter has been sent for second rescue attempt but we are not sure whether it can get close to the incident site," said spokeswoman Mira Acharya.

DEADLIEST INCIDENT

The storm is the deadliest incident to hit Nepal's mountaineering industry since 18 people were killed at the Mount Everest base camp in 2015 in an avalanche triggered by a powerful earthquake.

The previous year, 16 Sherpas were killed on Everest when an avalanche swept through the Khumbu Icefall.

Wangchu Sherpa, managing director of Trekking Camp Nepal, who organized the expedition, said they raised the alarm after they had not heard from the South Korean team for nearly 24 hours.

"After they (the climbers) were out of contact since yesterday we sent people from the village and a helicopter to search for them," he said.

The group of South Korean climbers and their Nepali guides had been camped at the foot of the 7,193-metre (23,599-foot) Mount Gurja since early October, waiting for a window of good weather so they could attempt to reach the summit.

Feted South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho, who in 2013 became the fastest person to summit the world's 14 highest mountains without using supplemental oxygen, was leading the expedition, according to a government-issued climbing permit seen by AFP.

The permit listed four South Korean climbers, but a fifth member had joined the team later, according to Suresh Dakal of Trekking Camp Nepal.

Rarely-climbed Gurja lies in Nepal's Annapurna region, next to avalanche-prone Dhaulagiri -- the world's seventh-highest mountain.

Gurja was first summited in 1969 by a Japanese team but no one has stood on its summit for 22 years, according to the Himalayan Database.

The South Korean team were planning to scale the mountain via a never-climbed route, according to the Korean Alpine Federation.

Four climbers have perished on Gurja's flanks and a total of 30 have successfully reached its peak -- a fraction of the more than 8,000 people who have summited Everest, the world's highest mountain.

Thousands of climbers flock to Nepal each year -- home to eight of the world's 14 highest peaks -- creating a lucrative mountain tourism industry that is a vital source of cash for the impoverished country.

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Kathmandu airport closed after jet skids off runway

KATHMANDU, Nepal - Kathmandu airport was closed Friday after a Malaysian jet with 139 people on board aborted its takeoff and skidded off the runway, officials said.

Nobody was hurt in the incident but incoming flights to the Nepali capital were diverted while authorities tried to move the Malindo Airlines Boeing 737, which was stuck in mud.


It was not known how long Tribhuvan Airport, Nepal's sole international air gateway, would be closed.

The flight by the Malaysian carrier to Kuala Lumpur was accelerating on the runway late Thursday when the pilots detected a problem and halted the takeoff, airport spokesman Prem Nath Thakur said.

The jet skidded to a halt on grassland and came to a stop in mud about 100 feet (30 metres) from the runway.

"All aboard are safe," Thakur said, adding that the cause of the problem was not immediately known.

The incident came one month after the crash of a US-Bangla Airways plane at Kathmandu airport, which killed 51 people.

In March 2015, a Turkish Airlines jet skidded off the runway as it landed, forcing Tribhuvan Airport to close for four days.

The Himalayan nation has some of the world's most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge even for accomplished pilots.

Nepal has a poor air safety record. Accidents are common and Nepal-based airlines are banned from flying in European Union airspace.

pm/tw/gle/ceb

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Kathmandu plane crash kills at least 40

At least 40 people were killed and 23 injured when a Bangladeshi plane crashed and burst into flames near Kathmandu airport on Monday, in the worst aviation disaster to hit Nepal in years.

Officials said there were 71 people on board the US-Bangla Airlines plane from Dhaka when it crashed into a football field near the airport.

Rescuers had to cut apart the mangled and burned wreckage of the aircraft to pull people out.

"Thirty-one people died at the spot and nine died at two hospitals in Kathmandu," police spokesman Manoj Neupane told AFP, adding another 23 were injured.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but a statement from airport authorities said the plane was "out of control" as it came in to land.

Eye witnesses said the plane crashed as it made a second attempt to land.

Nepal Army spokesman Gokul Bhandaree said seven of the victims had survived the impact but later died of their injuries.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the football pitch where the plane crashed, to the east of the runway at Nepal's only international airport, in the capital Kathmandu.

Airline spokesman Kamrul Islam, told AFP 33 of the passengers were Nepali, 32 were Bangladeshi, one was Chinese and one from the Maldives.

The plane was a Canadian-made Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop, Mahbubur Rahman of Bangladesh's civil aviation ministry told AFP. Other sources said the aircraft was 17 years old.

"There might be technical problems on the aircraft. But it has to be probed before making a final statement," Rahman told AFP.

Kathmandu briefly closed after the accident, forcing inbound flights to divert, but it has since reopened.

US-Bangla Airlines is a private carrier that launched in July 2014 with the motto "Fly Fast Fly Safe", according to its website.

The Dhaka-based airline made its first international flight in May 2016 to Kathmandu, and has since expanded with routes to South Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

In 2015 one of its planes overshot the runway on landing at Saidpur in northwest Bangladesh. There were no reports of injuries.

Nepal has suffered a number of air disasters in recent years, dealing a blow to its tourist industry.

Its poor air safety record has been blamed largely on inadequate maintenance, inexperienced pilots and substandard management.

In early 2016, a Twin Otter turboprop aircraft slammed into a mountainside in Nepal killing all 23 people on board.

Two days later, two pilots were killed when a small passenger plane crash-landed in the country's hilly midwest.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Nepal bank latest victim in heists targeting SWIFT system

KATHMANDU - A bank in Nepal is the latest victim in a string of cyber heists targeting the global SWIFT bank messaging system, though most of the stolen funds have been recovered, 2 officials involved in the investigation confirmed on Tuesday.

Hackers last month made about $4.4 million in fraudulent transfers from Kathmandu-based NIC Asia Bank to countries including Britain, China, Japan, Singapore and the United States when the bank was closed for annual festival holidays, according to Nepal media reports.

All but $580,000 of the funds were recovered after Nepal asked other nations to block release of the stolen money, Chinta Mani Shivakoti, deputy governor of the Central Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), told Reuters.

Brussels-based SWIFT said last month that security controls instituted after last year's $81 million theft from Bangladesh's central bank helped thwart some recent hacking attempts, but it warned that cyber criminals continue to target SWIFT customers.

SWIFT or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication is a co-operative owned by its user banks. It declined to comment on the NIC Asia Bank hack, saying it does not discuss specific users.

Representatives with NIC Asia Bank, one of dozens of private banks in Nepal, were not available for comment.

The chief of Nepal's Central Investigation Bureau, Pushkar Karki, confirmed to Reuters that his agency was investigating the theft.

KPMG is also involved in the investigation, according to Nepali media reports. KPMG representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.

The central bank intends to release guidelines on how to thwart such incidents after investigations are completed, according to Shivakoti.

"The incident showed there are some weaknesses with the IT department of the bank," Shivakoti said.

SWIFT said in a statement on Tuesday that it offers assistance to banks when it learns of potential fraud cases, then shares relevant information with other clients on an anonymous basis.

"This preserves confidentiality, whilst assisting other SWIFT users to take appropriate measures to protect themselves," it said.

"We have no indication that our network and core messaging services have been compromised," SWIFT added.

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Fil-Am doctors, nurses rush to help Nepal quake victims

CALIFORNIA - Two weeks after the devastating earthquake in Nepal which left more than 8,000, another quake has struck the country.

The 7.3 magnitude earthquake caused more buildings to crumble even as the country is still reeling from the massive devastation two weeks ago.

Video captured by the Canadian Red Cross shows rocks tumbling down a mountain north of Kathmandu.

As the latest quake compounds ongoing relief efforts in Nepal, Filipino-American doctors and medical workers have pitched in.

Top Fil-Am doctor in California Herminigildo Valle recalled the scene as the quake struck midday Tuesday.

"The whole building was shaking really hard and then there was this loud noise. When I go to the streets, I saw everybody, a lot of people running in all directions crying and yelling and people just lying on the ground," Dr. Valle said.

Officials say the epicenter was midway between Kathmandu and Mount Everest, close to the Chinese border.

Its tremors were powerful enough to be felt as far away as New Delhi, India, where several people also died.

As Dr. Valle visits the remote regions of Nepal to offer medical support, he said the devastation is simply staggering.

"I haven't seen this much death and destruction. You see people living in tarpaulin tents from 90 year olds to 3 year olds with cast on the leg. The worst thing is the smell. I could still smell the dead in the area.

Valle said he was supposed to go back to the devastated area of Sindhupalchowk, which is known for its treacherous terrain, but was lucky not to have made the trip when the latest quake struck.

"Maybe by the grace of God, we were supposed to go back there this morning. That terrain is like 10 times that of Kennon Road in Baguio with the road going the side of the mountain and with that kind of earthquake you never know what's gonna happen to the highway, the landslides and all. So today was my lucky day. Someone was watching over me," he said.

Rescue helicopters have been sent to remote areas.

Officials fear the death toll may rise even further with reports of people buried under the rubble near the Himalayas.

More Filipino-American nurses under the California Nurses Association will be deployed in the coming days to help in the medical efforts.

Read more from Balitang America

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Google, Facebook join Red Cross to find thousands missing in Nepal

NEW DELHI/LONDON - German development worker Caroline Siebald and her boyfriend Charles Gertler, an American glaciologist, were on a rafting trip in Nepal when the earthquake struck and initially panicked about how to let their families know they were safe.

After about 30 attempts, Gertler, 25, managed to get a phone call through to his mother in Massachusetts in the United States, and she registered them as safe on Facebook's "Safety Check". Within minutes, their friends and families saw the news.

"I had messages from my best friends in kindergarten saying 'Oh my God, I'm so glad you're alive'", Siebald, 22, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

From migrant Nepali domestic workers in India to IT professionals in Brazil, people across the globe have taken to social media sites such as Facebook and Google to look for missing relatives and pass on news of survival in Nepal.

In India, which has the highest population of Nepali migrants in the world, many have been frantically trying to phone home, horrified as they watch television pictures showing bodies being pulled out of the rumble of collapsed buildings.

"I don't know anything about my son who is in a village with my parents far from Kathmandu. I am calling on the phone all the time, but I can't get through. I can't eat, sleep or work," said Usha Tamang, a nanny of Nepali nationality working in Delhi.

Elsewhere in the world, others are searching for relatives and friends who were visiting the Himalayan nation during its peak tourism season.

An estimated 300,000 foreign tourists were in the country, several hundred of whom were on Mount Everest, when Saturday's 7.9 magnitude quake struck, killing more than 3,700 people.

TRACING THE MISSING

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was one of the first agencies to launch an online platform to trace the thousands of people who are missing.

The family tracing service publishes lists of names and information on people who are safe and well, hospital patients, people who are looking for relatives, sought persons or those who are dead.

Individuals can access these lists directly on the webpage to look for the names of their family members or register themselves as safe or in danger.

Facebook has also launched its Safety Check tool https://www.facebook.com/safetycheck/nepalearthquake for Nepal, drawing praise from Facebook members.

"It's a simple way to let family and friends know you're okay. If you're in one of the areas affected by the earthquake, you'll get a notification asking if you're safe, and whether you want to check on any of your friends," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted.

"When disasters happen, people need to know their loved ones are safe. It's moments like this that being able to connect really matters."

An IT professional in Brazil was one of many who said that the initiative had helped her trace her family.

"My father and friends are in the area and one of the first contact points we had to get some news was Facebook. This media is not always about likes and fun," the woman wrote in response to Zuckerberg's post.

"When you or someone in your family is in danger, you'll try ANY kind of contact and I'm glad Facebook helped me today. Connection is what matters."

Another application, the Google Person Finder https://google.org/personfinder/2015-nepal-earthquake/, first launched after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, uses SMS to allow anyone to search or update information on missing people.

On Saturday Jacqueline Brown registered Angus Brown, 46, from London, as safe. "Angus has emailed, he is in Lumboche with Martin. Both are fine, warm and have food," she said. The service is currently tracking about 5,800 people.

Telecommunications firms and tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft and T-Mobile, joined the relief effort by either waving call and text fees, facilitating donations or making donations outright.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Nepal seeks help, death toll seen rising after devastating quake

KATHMANDU - Nepal urged countries to send aid to help it cope with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed nearly 1,400 people, a toll predicted to rise as rescuers used their hands to dig for survivors among the rubble on Sunday.

Thousands of people braved freezing temperatures and patchy rain to sleep on pavements, in parks or in fields in the crowded Kathmandu valley, too afraid to return to homes damaged by a 7.9 magnitude quake which struck at midday on Saturday.

"We have launched a massive rescue and rehabilitation action plan and lots needs to be done," said Information and Broadcasting Minister Minendra Rijal.

"Our country is in a moment of crisis and we will require tremendous support and aid," he told Indian television.

Police said the death toll had reached 1,394, with about 4,700 injured. More than 630 people had been killed in the Kathmandu valley and at least 300 more in the capital.

Foreign climbers and their Nepalese guides around Mount Everest were caught by the tremors and a huge avalanche. Some took to social media to send desperate messages for assistance, warning that otherwise more people would die.

Hospitals across the impoverished nation of 28 million people struggled to cope with the dead and injured from Nepal's worst quake in 81 years, and a lack of equipment meant rescuers could look no deeper than surface rubble for signs of life.

Kathmandu's Bir Hospital had so far received 300 to 350 patients with serious injuries, and most of them died, said paramedic Dinesh Chaudhary. He said the hospital was running out of supplies and were procuring medicines from shops outside.

"There will be many more patients coming in tomorrow because only a very small part of the debris has been cleared," he said.

Ramesh Pokharel, a staff member of the Bhaktapur Hospital on the outskirts of Kathmandu, said that around 50 bodies were lying in a field outside.

Doctors were treating patients in a tent next to Bhaktapur hospital's main building, and staff were too busy to count or register names of the casualties.

"It's chaos here," Pokharel said.

PEOPLE STILL TRAPPED
The earthquake, centered 50 miles (80 km) east of the second city, Pokhara, was all the more destructive for being shallow.

Areas of Kathmandu were reduced to rubble, and rescue operations had still not begun in some remote areas.

Among the capital's landmarks destroyed in the earthquake was the 60-meter-high (100-foot) Dharahara Tower, built in 1832 for the queen of Nepal, with a viewing balcony that had been open to visitors for the last 10 years.

A jagged stump 10 meters high was all that was left of the lighthouse-like structure. As bodies were pulled from the ruins, a policeman said up to 200 people had been trapped inside.

Across the city of roughly 1 million people, rescuers scrabbled through destroyed buildings, among them ancient, wooden Hindu temples.

"I can see three bodies of monks trapped in the debris of a collapsed building near a monastery," Indian tourist Devyani Pant told Reuters. "We are trying to pull the bodies out and look for anyone who is trapped."

Neighboring India, where 44 people were reported killed in the quake and its aftershocks, was first to respond to calls for help, sending military aircraft with medical equipment and relief teams.

The Indian embassy in Nepal said 285 members of the National Disaster Response Force had been sent to assist the Nepalese army in the rescue effort.

Aid groups readied staff to go to Nepal with supplies to provide clean water, sanitation and emergency food, while the United States, Britain and Pakistan were among countries providing search-and-rescue experts.

TRAGEDY IN THE MOUNTAINS

An Indian army mountaineering team found 18 bodies on Mount Everest, where an avalanche unleashed by the earthquake swept through base camp. More than 1,000 climbers had gathered there at the start of the climbing season.

A tourism official, Mohan Krishna Sapkota, said it was "hard to even assess what the death toll and the extent of damage" around Everest could be.

"The trekkers are scattered all around the base camp and some had even trekked further up. It is almost impossible to get in touch with anyone."

Around 300,000 foreign tourists were estimated to be in various parts of Nepal for the spring trekking and climbing season in the Himalayas, and officials were overwhelmed by calls from concerned friends and relatives.

Romanian climber Alex Gavan tweeted that there had been a "huge earthquake then huge avalanche" at Everest base camp, forcing him to run for his life.

In a later tweet he made a desperate appeal for a helicopter to fly in and evacuate climbers who had been hurt: "Many dead. Much more badly injured. More to die if not heli asap."

In the Annapurna mountain range, where scores were killed in the nation's worst trekking accident last year, many hikers were stranded after the earthquake, according to messages on social media, but no fatalities have been reported.

Stan Adhikari, who runs the Mountain House lodge in Pokhara near the mountain range, said the city had not seen much damage. He said he was hoping roads to Kathmandu would be accessible on Sunday morning.

Nepal, sandwiched between India and China, has had its share of natural disasters. Its worst earthquake in 1934 killed more than 8,500 people.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Nepal quake death toll reaches 758 - home ministry

KATHMANDU - The death toll in the earthquake that hit Nepal on Saturday has risen to 758, a home ministry official said, of which 467 were in the Kathmandu Valley that is the most heavily populated part of the Himalayan country.

Earlier, a home ministry official said that 181 people had died in the capital Kathmandu in the quake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Nepal plane crash kills 15; six survive

NEW DELHI – A small plane with 21 people aboard crashed in Nepal Monday morning, killing 15, including the pilot and co-pilot. The accident, involving a Dornier 228 aircraft operated by Agni Air, occurred near mountainous Jomsom Airport some 200 kilometers northwest of Kathmandu.

The charter flight from Pokhara city to Jomsom carried 16 Indian tourists, two Danish tourists and three Nepali crew. Two Indian children, aged 6 and 9, and their 45-year-old male Indian relative, all surnamed Kidambi, survived in critical condition, along with a Danish man and woman who were not immediately identified and a flight attendant, according to the Indian and Danish embassies in Kathmandu.

The survivors, in serious condition, were flown by helicopter to nearby Pokhara and admitted to the Manipal College of Medical Sciences, according to Apoorva Srivastava, an Indian Embassy official.

Narayan Dattakoti, a deputy inspector general of police, told media that early indications were the aircraft was in good condition, although the terrain was challenging and the wind pressure a bit higher than usual. An investigation has been launched, he added.

The crash involving the 11-year old aircraft reportedly occurred as the pilot attempted a landing at high-altitude Jomsom Airport. The fuselage reportedly broke into pieces, although it did not catch fire. “The captain made a left turn and crashed into the mountain,” Dattakoti said.

Nepal Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai expressed his condolences in a statement. The airport is a gateway for trekkers and religious pilgrims.

Impoverished Nepal with its weak regulatory structure, challenging topography and fast-building storms, has seen several aviation accidents in recent years, most involving small aircraft. Fly-around tours of Mt. Everest and other top Himalayan peaks are popular with tourists.

Harshwardhan, an aviation expert and former Air India pilot who uses only one name, said the fact that the airplane crashed into a mountain tends to point to some sort of pilot error. “We’re seeing too many accidents of a similar nature in a short period of time,” he added.

A fundamental problem in both India and Nepal is that bureaucrats tend to oversee civil aviation rather than independent safety boards, added M.R. Wadia, former president of Mumbai-based Federation of Indian Pilots, an industry group.

In August 2010, a Dornier-228 operated by Agni Air crashed 20 minutes south of Kathmandu in bad weather killing 14 people, including four Americans, a Japanese and a British national. And in September 2011, a Buddha Air plane ferrying tourists on a sightseeing trip around Mount Everest crashed, killing all 19 people on board.

source: latimes.com