[ad_1]
Seven people, including South Korean mountaineers, were killed and two others are missing on Gurja Himal Mountain after the violent storm that swept their base camp, the Nepalese police said on Saturday.
A storm Friday night destroyed their camp and two rescue helicopters sent early Saturday were unable to land due to poor weather conditions on the mountain, said police chief Bir Bahadur Budamagar.
The villagers who reached the base camp on Saturday afternoon found the bodies of four South Korean climbers, two Nepali guides and another unidentified person, while searches continued to find two more said Budamagar.
There were five South Korean mountaineers and four Nepalese guides in the camp when the strong storm hit.
It was unlikely that the weather would clear Saturday and helicopter flights would be possible until Sunday.
A police team was walking to base camp and is expected to arrive on Sunday, Budamagar said.
Mountaineers were attempting to climb the 7 193-meter (23,590-foot) summit.
The region is about 216 km northwest of Kathmandu, in the region where the world's seventh highest mountain, Dhaulagiri, is located.
Nepal is home to eight of the 14 highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, and the autumn climbing season is at its peak. The income of foreign climbers is a major source of income for the country.
