NEPAL RESCUERS RETRIEVE 9 BODIES

Mount Gurja climbers belonged to South Korea

KATHMANDU: The bodies of nine climbers killed on Nepal’s Mount Gurja were retrieved from the mountainside on Sunday as rescuers tried to piece together what led to the freak accident.

Rescuers found the bodies of the South Korean climbing expedition scattered across the base camp amid the broken remains of their tents and equipment.

The team had injuries, including head wounds and broken bones, consistent with being hit by powerful winds, but rescuers say it most likely caused by the powerful downblast from an avalanche not a storm.

“It seems that seracs (glacial ice) and snow fell from high on the mountain and the strong gusts of winds from that hit the campsite, throwing the climbers off,” said rescuer Suraj Paudyal who reached the site Sunday.

The remote camp at around 3,500 metres was located next to a gully that acted as a funnel for the mass of snow, ice and rocks brought down by the avalanche creating a powerful kickback of wind that decimated the team.

It took a helicopter several trips to bring the bodies − ive South Koreans and four Nepalis − down from the camp in the Dhaulagiri mountain range of Nepal’s Annapurna region.

They initially were lown to Pokhara, a tourist hub that serves as a gateway to the Annapurna region, and will be brought to Kathmandu later Sunday, said Yogesh Sapkota of Simrik Air, a helicopter company involved in the effort.

“Base camp looks like a bomb went off,” said Dan Richards of Global Rescue, a Us-based emergency assistance group that helped with the retrieval effort.

The accident is believed to have happened either late Thursday or Friday, but there are no surviving witnesses.