Sixteen expedition support staff are feared dead after an avalanche buried tents at Himlung Himal (7,126m) base camp in Nepal’s Manang district under more than 15ft of snow on Sunday morning. Rescuers recovered two bodies while 14 others, mostly kitchen staff, remained missing. Search teams said chances of finding survivors were slim. Operations were suspended later in the day due to difficult conditions and were scheduled to resume Monday morning.
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Members of the search and rescue team identified the two deceased as climbing guides Pasang Bhote and Chhebi Bhote. “We will resume the search for the 14 other kitchen staff,” Mingma G Sherpa, who led the rescue operation, told TOI. The avalanche struck while a Himalayan Holidays Nepal team was preparing the base camp for a 14-member all-women group from a climbing school in the UAE, scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu on Oct 1.
Himlung Himal, in the Nar Phu region of Manang, had witnessed persistent rain and heavy snowfall before the avalanche. At least eight IFMGA/NNMGA guides were mobilised for the rescue, but poor weather restricted access to the base camp. “It is very unlikely that the missing people will be found alive, as the tents were buried beneath more than 15ft of snow,” rescuers involved in recovering the bodies said.
Nepal's department of tourism said 14 staff from Himalayan Holidays and two kitchen workers from Imagine Nepal Treks were caught in the avalanche. Initial reports had put the number of missing people lower before expedition organisers and authorities revised the figure after receiving details from the remote site.
The accident came amid a deadly 2026 climbing season across Himalayas and Karakoram, where at least 24 climbers and high-altitude workers had already died before Sunday’s incident. The toll included fatalities during Nepal’s spring season, an avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakista-occupied Kashmir n and four deaths on Manaslu this month.
