Trekkers helicoptered off mountains as more deadly landslides hit Nepal

ByNavin Singh Khadka Environment correspondent, BBC World Service.

Key points

• A representative of the local trekking authority, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, remarked some 700 trekkers were still waiting in Pokhara to embark on the Annapurna Circuit.
• The national disaster management authority notes more than 1, 900 families have been affected since late last week with more than 240 homes damaged.
• Australian Andrew Graham and his guide Prem KC remarked they had to cross more than 15 landslides after they decided to return from Manang village.
• Trekking guide Tse Ring Doma remarked she and her group had to cross 28 landslides.
• But four bodies have been recovered and 12 individuals remain missing after an avalanche near the base of Himlung Peak, close to the border with Tibet.

As the Himalayan nation reels from August's catastrophic flooding that left 1, 400 dead and thousands more missing, another wave of landslides and heavy rain have killed regarding 30 residents in Nepal.

Notably, the national disaster management authority notes more than 1, 900 families have been affected since late last week with more than 240 homes damaged. Roads, buildings and bridges have been swept away.

Hundreds of trekkers on the Annapurna Circuit – crucial to Nepal's economy – have had to cut short their hikes to obtain to safety.

Plenty of have been helicoptered out of the districts of Manang and Mustang, from a hiking circuit that usually takes up to three weeks to complete. Communities in a number of parts of Nepal are mourning loved ones.

Speaking from a damp, blue tent in Battar, a town north-west of Kathmandu, Buti Tamang informed BBC Nepali: "We employed to live in a hut, but now there is nothing. We have lost so plenty of of our relatives."

"Now it is raining and the tent leaks, so we've been facing a tough situation. We have nowhere to go, " remarked Ramesh Ghale. This person additionally had to flee his home.

For context, a number of 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, discovered 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.

After returning to base camp in Pokhara on Tuesday night, We made our own paths on mountain slopes, he remarked. It was quite steep and we were clambering since there was river below. It was particularly muddy and highly wet. Many trekkers were helicoptered out, he continued.

Australian Andrew Graham and his guide Prem KC remarked 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."

For context, the two obtained stuck when they reached the village of Chame. It had been evacuated due to the risk of landslides, and had to spend a night in the jungle, Graham stated.

For context, 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 particularly successful, locals informed the BBC.

Meanwhile, trekking guide Tse Ring Doma remarked she and her group had to cross 28 landslides. The mental stress was more tough than the physical challenge, she stated, 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."

While locals risked losing their houses and land, her client, Norwegian Ellen Wahlström, remarked visitors were fortunate – they would only have to leave some of their items behind. She continued that authorities had been clearing numerous of the landslides "surprisingly fast".

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

Meanwhile, a representative of the local trekking authority, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, remarked 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 remarked.

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

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

As the main roads have been washed away in some sections of the circuit, but now operators say plenty of trekkers have been using these abandoned paths to return. Extra reporting by BBC Nepali.

In short, trekkers helicoptered off mountains as more deadly landslides hit Nepal is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.