Avalanche, storm kill 17 in Nepal

A snowstorm and avalanche in Nepal's Himalayas has killed 17 trekkers and guides -- nine foreigners and eight Nepalis -- on a popular hiking route, while more than 100 others remain out of contact, officials said yesterday.

Severe weather triggered by the tail end of Cyclone Hudhud, which battered neighbouring India's east coast, hit trekking groups on the Annapurna circuit as well as mountaineers trying to scale the avalanche-prone Mount Dhaulagiri in central Nepal on Tuesday.

As the weather cleared in the remote Mustang and Manang districts yesterday , rescuers trudging through waist-deep snow found 27 stranded trekkers, an official said.

But some 168 foreign tourists were registered to hike in the districts and authorities are now trying to track the rest of them down, said police official Ganesh Rai who is heading the rescue effort.

Two Slovakian mountaineers and three Nepalese guides went missing after an avalanche struck teams stationed at the base camp of 8,167-metre Mount Dhaulagiri on Tuesday night.

In neighbouring Mustang, rescuers conducting helicopter sorties found twelve bodies, -- two Israelis, a Pole, a Vietnamese and eight Nepalese trekkers and guides -- blanketed by thick snow. Rescuers also found the bodies of five hikers, four Canadians and an Indian, caught in an avalanche in neighbouring Manang.

In a separate incident in Manang, three yak herders were killed in another avalanche on Tuesday while grazing their animals, district official Devendra Lamichanne told AFP.