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EPA
Kim Chang-ho, who was among those killed, won awards for his mountaineering efforts
The bodies of nine mountaineers who died after a violent snowstorm destroyed their camp on top of a Himalayan peak in Nepal.
The five South Korean guides and the four Nepali guides were found scattered in the base camp near Mount Gurja, a summit at 19,193m (23,600ft).
It was discovered that they had suffered fractures and wounds to the head during Friday's storm.
The incident is the worst climbing accident in Nepal in two years.
The crew of a rescue helicopter began recovering the victims on Sunday after yesterday's attempts were halted by strong winds.
"It seems that seracs [glacial ice] and the snow fell from the top of the mountain and the strong gusts of wind that hit the campsite made mountaineers flee, "said Suraj Paduyal, a rescuer, to AFP.
"The camp has been completely destroyed," Liladhar Adhikari, Myagdi district official, told BBC.
"We assume that the camp may have been installed at a higher than normal altitude, but we will know exactly what happened after a thorough investigation."
The organizers of the expedition sounded the alarm after losing contact with the group, which left on October 7 for nearly 24 hours.
Kim Chang-ho, the first South Korean mountaineer to reach the top of the 14 highest mountains in the world without using additional oxygen, is among the dead.
Mountaineers – led by Mr. Kim – were waiting for a window of good weather to reach the summit when the storm hit Friday.
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AFP
The bodies were transported by helicopter to Kathmandu
The base camp, which is at least one day away from the nearest village, is located at an altitude of 3,500 m, on a mountain 7,193 m above sea level.
Mount Gurja, which rises rarely, is in the region of Annapurna, Nepal, next to Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest mountain in the world, very exposed to avalanches.
According to the Himalayan database, nobody has appeared at the Gurja summit since 1996.
Only 30 people managed to reach their peak, against more than 8,000 people having reached the summit of the highest mountain in the world, Everest.
