Kathmandu
(AFP) - All trekkers left stranded by a major snowstorm in Nepal's Himalayas
are safe, officials said Saturday, with the focus now shifting to the recovery
of bodies four days after the disaster killed at least 32 people.
Nepalese
army choppers circled the upper reaches of the popular Annapurna Circuit
trekking region to locate bodies, while officials flew in a team of experts
from Kathmandu to assist with retrieval.
Tuesday's
unseasonal storm, which hit at the height of the trekking season triggering
avalanches, caught hikers unaware on their way up to an exposed high mountain
pass, and killed at least 17 tourists.
"We
understand that all remaining trekkers in the region are safe," said Binay
Acharya of the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN), an industry body
organising rescue efforts.
"We
have not received any further calls for rescue or for information about
stranded people," Acharya told AFP.
Emergency
workers have so far rescued 385 people from the affected area, according to
police.
"Since
Wednesday, we have rescued 385 people, including 180 foreigners," said
police official Harikrishna KC.
Rescuers
Friday recovered the body of a Nepalese porter, taking the death toll to 32,
including 24 hikers, guides and porters on the trekking circuit, three yak
herders as well as five climbers on a mountain in the area.
Thousands
of people head to the Annapurna Circuit every October, when weather conditions
are usually clear.
However,
the region has seen unusually heavy snowfall this week sparked by Cyclone
Hudhud, which slammed into India's east coast Sunday.
The
disaster prompted Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala to announce plans to
set up a weather warning system across the mountainous country, which relies
heavily on tourism revenues from climbing and trekking.
The
Annapurna Circuit is particularly popular among tourists, and has come to be
known as the "apple pie" trek for the food served at the small
lodges, known as teahouses, that line the route.
The
snowstorm is one of Nepal's worst trekking disasters since 1995 when a huge avalanche
struck the camp of a Japanese trekking group in the Mount Everest region,
killing 42 people including 13 Japanese.
The
Himalayan nation has suffered multiple avalanches this year, with 16 guides
killed in April in the deadliest accident to hit Mount Everest, forcing an
unprecedented shutdown of the world's highest peak.
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