Rescuers searched Mount Everest for bodies Saturday as authorities ruled out hope of finding any more survivors from an avalanche that killed at least 12 Nepalese guides in the deadliest accident ever on the world's highest peak.
Four sherpas were still missing from Friday's avalanche.
The victims were among a large party of sherpas who left Everest base camp before dawn, carrying tents, food and ropes to prepare camps for foreign clients ahead of the main climbing season starting later this month.
Nepal tourism ministry official Dipendra Paudel said search teams were trying to locate bodies buried under snow.
"There's no chance of finding the four men still missing alive. They've been under the snow for over 24 hours," Paudel told AFP.
"Our hope is to find the bodies now. But we cannot confirm a death toll of 16 until we do," he said.
The avalanche occurred early Friday at an altitude of about 5,800 metres (19,000 feet) in an area nicknamed the "popcorn field" due to ice boulders on the route leading into the treacherous Khumbu icefall.
Dozens of guides were on the move when a huge block of ice broke off from a hanging glacier, before splitting into smaller chunks and barrelling down into the icefall, one of the most dangerous areas on the route to ascend Everest.
The ice "tumbled for several thousand feet, resulting in debris that came further out into the icefall", according an account by the International Mountain Guides climbing company, which has a team stationed on the peak.
Every summer, hundreds of climbers from around the world attempt to scale peaks in the Himalayas when weather conditions are ideal.
The previous worst accident on Everest occurred in 1996 when eight people were killed during a storm while attempting to summit the mountain, first conquered in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
In the past, some accidents have been blamed on overcrowding or on ill-prepared commercial climbers taking unnecessary risks to reach the summit before returning home.
More than 300 people, most of them local guides, have died on Everest since the first summit in 1953.
The impoverished Himalayan country is home to eight of the world's 14 peaks over 8,000 metres.
Nepal's government has issued permits to 734 people, including 400 guides, to climb Everest this summer.
AFP
Sat Apr 19 2014
In this May 18, 2013 climbers are seen making their way to the summit of Mount Everest, in the Khumbu region of the Nepal Himalayas. -AP Photo
AWANI Ringkas: Taktik baharu scammer
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
AWANI 7:45 [20/04/2024] - Noktahkan kemiskinan Sabah | Belum tahu jumlah peruntukan pembangkang | Freedom Flotilla to Gaza | Thailand terima 10.72 juta pelancong asing
#AWANI745 malam ini bersama Dzulfitri Yusof;
1. Noktahkan kemiskinan tegar Sabah, kata PM
2. PN masih tunggu butiran MOU, peruntukan pembangkang
3. Freedom Flotilla jalani latihan anti keganasan sebelum ke Gaza
4. 1.3 juta pelancong Malaysia ke Thailand
1. Noktahkan kemiskinan tegar Sabah, kata PM
2. PN masih tunggu butiran MOU, peruntukan pembangkang
3. Freedom Flotilla jalani latihan anti keganasan sebelum ke Gaza
4. 1.3 juta pelancong Malaysia ke Thailand
Dua polis BSI ditahan bantu siasatan kes pemerasan
Dua anggota polis yang berkhidmat di Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) ditahan semalam, bagi membantu siasatan kes pemerasan melibatkan seorang lelaki tempatan yang bekerja di Singapura.
Malaysia-Thailand tingkat kerjasama atasi jenayah
Malaysia dan Thailand setuju tingkat kerjasama untuk membanteras jenayah rentas sempadan.
#AWANI745
#AWANI745
MCMC lapor polis terhadap Papagomo, Che Gu Bard dan Salim Iskandar
MCMC menegaskan pihaknya melaksanakan tugas dan tanggungjawabnya berpandukan Akta Komunikasi dan Multimedia 1998, dan kesemua undang-undang subsidiari yang terkandung di dalamnya.
#AWANI745
#AWANI745
Kursus Perdana Haji peringkat Wilayah Persekutuan
Hari ini bermula Kursus Haji Perdana secara berperingkat yang dianjurkan oleh Lembaga Tabung Haji.
Ini adalah persediaan terakhir kepada bakal Haji Malaysia untuk mempersiapkan diri sebagai tetamu Allah di tanah suci nanti.
#AWANI745
Ini adalah persediaan terakhir kepada bakal Haji Malaysia untuk mempersiapkan diri sebagai tetamu Allah di tanah suci nanti.
#AWANI745
1.39 juta pelancong Malaysia ke Thailand
Thailand terima ketibaan 10.72 juta pelancong asing termasuk 1.39 juta dari Malaysia.
#AWANI745
#AWANI745
Delegasi Malaysia jalani latihan anti keganasan
Latihan ini bagi mempersiapkan peserta dalam mendepani segala kenungkinan dan provokasi yang mungkin berlaku semasa pelayaran menghantar bantuan ke Gaza berlangsung.
Syaff Shukri di Istanbul, Turki ada perinciannya.
#AWANI745
Syaff Shukri di Istanbul, Turki ada perinciannya.
#AWANI745
Bekas tokoh Bersih lancar Projek SAMA, tingkat akauntabiliti
Tujuh bekas BERSIH pada Sabtu melancarkan sebuah organisasi yang memperjuangkan reformasi institusi dikenali sebagai Projek SAMA.
#AWANI745
#AWANI745
[TERKINI] Dua polis bsi ditahan bantu siasatan kes pemerasan
Dua anggota polis yang berkhidmat di Bangunan Sultan Iskandar di Johor Bahru ditahan bagi membantu siasatan kes pemerasan membabitkan seorang lelaki tempatan yang bekerja di Singapura.
Langgar belakang lori kontena, pemandu dan kelindan maut
Pemandu dan kelindan lori maut apabila kenderaan yang mereka naiki terlanggar belakang sebuah lori kontena yang rosak di Kilometer 294.4 Lebuhraya Utara Selatan arah utara di Gopeng, pagi Ahad.
Gopeng Ultra Trail: 170 sertai pencarian Mohammad Ashraf
Usaha mencari Mohammad Ashraf Hassan, 29, yang hilang ketika menyertai acara larian di Gopeng, Perak diperhebat setelah masuk hari keempat.
Pelajar Tingkatan Satu dirempuh kereta meninggal dunia
Pelajar tingkatan satu, Muhamad Nur Amier Ishak yang parah dirempuh kereta di susur jejambat Jalan Permatang Batu , Bukit Mertajam disahkan meninggal dunia kira kira jam 4.30 petang Isnin.
Six killed in Machang accident
Six people died while six others sustained multiple injuries in an accident involving two cars at Km 63, Jalan Kuala Krai-Kota Baharu near Kampung Bunut, Machang.
David Beckham, anak terlibat kemalangan kereta
Kemalangan berlaku tidak lama selepas Beckham mengambil anaknya Brooklyn dari pusat latihan Arsenal.
Malaysian students, teachers in bus crash near Perth
The crash in Perth Hills involved 13 students and eight adults from Malaysia and Indonesia. Three of them suffered broken limbs.