Trekkers evacuated by helicopter as more deadly landslides hit Nepal

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - KATHMANDU — Another wave of landslides and heavy rain has killed about 30 people in Nepal, as the Himalayan country continues to recover from catastrophic flooding in August that left 1,400 people dead and thousands more missing, according to the BBC.

Nepal’s national disaster management authority said more than 1,900 families had been affected since late last week. More than 240 homes were damaged, while roads, buildings and bridges were washed away.

Hundreds of trekkers on the Annapurna Circuit, which is crucial to Nepal's economy, have had to cut short their hikes to get to safety.

Many have been evacuated by helicopter out of the districts of Manang and Mustang, from a hiking circuit that usually takes up to three weeks to complete.

Several trekkers and their guides say their journeys back down the mountains have been treacherous, taking up to three or four days and requiring them to pass collapsed roads and swept-away bridges.

Jake Stacy, a 21-year-old from Suffolk, found himself stranded with his guide in Yak Kharka, upper Manang, due to heavy snowfall last week and decided not to continue to the Thorang La pass, the highest point of the circuit.

"We made our own paths on mountain slopes," he said, after returning to base camp in Pokhara on Tuesday night. "It was quite steep and we were clambering because there was river below… It was very muddy and very wet.

"Many trekkers were helicoptered out," he added.

Australian Andrew Graham and his guide Prem KC said they had to cross more than 15 landslides after they decided to return from Manang village. "A few of them were quite dangerous; the residual risks have grown now."

The two got stuck when they reached the village of Chame, which had been evacuated due to the risk of landslides, and had to spend a night in the jungle, Graham said.

A massive landslide has partially blocked a river which passes through Chame, causing a temporary lake that has inundated houses and a key bridge. Authorities have been trying to release the water for the past three days using excavators but have not been very successful, locals told the BBC.

Meanwhile, trekking guide Tse Ring Doma said she and her group had to cross 28 landslides. The mental stress was more difficult than the physical challenge, she said, given the fresh memory of last month's enormous disaster: "Even thunder would make us run and come out to see if anything was coming our way."

Her client, Norwegian Ellen Wahlström, said visitors were fortunate - they would only have to leave some of their items behind, while locals risked losing their houses and land. She added that authorities had been clearing many of the landslides "surprisingly fast".

While road damage in Manang has been serious, with several bridges swept away and communications down in some areas, no one has been killed in the trekking region, chief district officer Mukti Prasad Khanal said.

But four bodies have been recovered and 12 people remain missing after an avalanche near the base of Himlung Peak, close to the border with Tibet.

A representative of the local trekking authority, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, said some 700 trekkers were still waiting in Pokhara to embark on the Annapurna Circuit.

"We have been holding back all these people who want to go to the Annapurna Circuit trek, although we are under pressure from the trekking industry to announce the route open," he said.

Indian visitors who often visit the ancient temple Muktinath on a Hindu pilgrimage had been asked to fly from Jomsom to Pokhara instead of driving down, due to a cut-off road, he added.

Most of the old trekking trails on the Annapurna Circuit have been unused in recent years after the introduction of roads, except for small pockets of the Manang and Mustang districts.

But now operators say many trekkers have been using these abandoned paths to return, as the main roads have been washed away in some sections of the circuit.