HELP! STRANDED TREKKERS SEND SOS

As the helicopter swooped over Nepal’s lush Gorkha Valley in search of earthquake survivors, the 10-foot ‘HELP!’ sign spelled out by a

desperate group of foreign trekkers couldn’t fail to grab the pilot’s attention. “Thank God you’ve come!” said 31year-old Julia Strelcoua after the Indian military helicopter landed in a clearing and then whisked her and fellow trekkers to safety in the adventure sports hub of Pokhara. Strelcoua was part of a group

of around a dozen mainly Slovakian trekkers who were enjoying the views of central Nepal’s Gorkha when a quake

tore through the ground.