Blizzard, avalanche death toll rises in Nepal; scores still missing

More bodies have been discovered in Nepal's Himalayan region following a blizzard and avalanches that are now known to have killed at least 27 people, some of them tourists, officials said Thursday. Dozens more remain unaccounted for and there is concern that the death toll may increase steeply in the days to come.

Search teams in army helicopters rescued dozens of stranded foreign trekkers during the latest efforts to reach those still stranded following heavy snowfall.

But around 70 people were still missing along or near the popular Annapurna trail, said Ganga Sagar Pant of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, and the death toll there was expected to rise.

The route, about 100 miles northwest of the capital, Katmandu, was filled with international hikers during the peak October trekking season, when the air is generally clear and cool. There were also many Nepalese on the trails because of local festivals.

Government administrator Yama Bahadur Chokhyal said rescuers recovered 10 more bodies from the Thorong La pass area, where they had been caught in a sudden blizzard Tuesday.

They have not yet identified. Earlier, the bodies of two Poles, an Israeli and a Nepalese were recovered from the area.

Chokhyal said 64 more foreign trekkers were rescued Thursday.

The blizzard, the tail end of a cyclone that hit the Indian coast a few days earlier, appeared to contribute to an avalanche that killed at least eight people in Phu village in neighboring Manang district. The dead included one Indian and four Canadian trekkers as well as three villagers, said government official Devendra Lamichane.

The foreigners' bodies were buried in up to 6 feet of snow and digging them out will take days, Lamichane said. Three Canadian trekkers who survived the avalanche were taken by helicopter to a shelter in a nearby village. No information was immediately available on their condition.

An avalanche in April just above the base camp on Mount Everest killed 16 Nepalese guides, the deadliest single disaster on the mountain. Climate experts say rising global temperatures have contributed to avalanches in the Himalayas.

Al Jazeera and wire services