Indian national among 12 die as Hudhud trigger blizzards

The wrath of Hudhud is far from being over. In the latest incident, the tail of the cyclone took away 12 lives, including eight foreign hikers when it triggered a series of blizzards and avalanches when its tail passed on Wednesday over Nepal. The death list also included local yak-herders, media reported. As per information received, Nepal has been slashed by heavy rains brought by the cyclone for the past two days that has earlier slammed into India. The unseasonal rains triggered blizzards at high altitudes.

In the district of Manang, four Canadian hikers and an Indian national were killed in an avalanche, the district's most senior bureaucrat, Devendra Lamichhane, is reported by Reuters as saying. "The pilot of a rescue helicopter spotted the bodies in snow," Lamichhane said. "But it is not possible to retrieve their bodies because it is heavily snowing in the area now,” he added. Three yak herders were killed after being swept away by a separate avalanche at Nar village in Manang, officials said. The identity of the Indian national is yet to be ascertained.

It has also been learnt that bodies of a Nepali citizen, two Polish nationals and an Israeli hiker from the Thorang-La area were found along a popular trekking route near Annapurna, the world's 10th highest mountain. Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest is flocked by hikers during this time of the year. "We have rescued five German, five Polish and four Israeli trekkers who were trapped in the snowfall early on Wednesday," Baburam Bhandari, governor of the district of Mustang is quoted by Reuters as saying. Mustang, where the incident took place, is a fertile valley bordering Tibet, is about 150 km northwest of the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, and is popular among foreign hikers.

Nepal's climbing industry is still recovering from the aftershocks of an ice avalanche that struck the lower reaches of Mount Everest in April, killing 16 sherpa guides in the worst disaster in the history of the world's highest peak.