A search and rescue team recovered the bodies of three French climbers buried under snow, days after they had gone missing in Nepal on a mountain hit by an avalanche in the Everest region.
Nepal's district police office stated that the search team had located the bodies on Sunday, The Kathmandu Post reported. The bodies, however, were retrieved on Monday and airlifted to Kathmandu for postmortem, Inspector Rishi Raj Dhakal, chief of the Solukhumbu district police office said.
The three climbers, part of an eight-member expedition team, were reported missing on October 31. According to Post, the climbers had last made contact on October 26 via satellite phone from their camp. Local media reports say that they were apparently caught in an avalanche.
"The bodies were recovered at 11 am on Sunday buried nearly two metres under the snow," said Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, a member of the search and rescue team mobilised by the Nepal National Mountain Guides Association.
"All three bodies were found in the same location," the Sherpa was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post.
The group had been issued permits to climb 6,783-metre Mt Khangtega and 6,423-metre Mt Cholatse.
( With inputs from ANI )
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