Life-Preserving Food Aid Delivery By Drone in Isolated Nepalese Villages

"We’ve been operating back ‌and forth early in the ⁠morning. So yes, it’s quite hectic, because we ⁠need to have this thing right now."

"Nepal has this geography, this ‌terrain where drones would be really ​faster, quicker and cheaper."

Milan Pandey, Airlift ​Technology, drone operating company

 

"We have seen disasters, we have seen earthquakes, we have seen disasters caused by floods, we have seen war situations, conflicts."

"We have had access challenges in many of these situations [but the challenges in Nepal were extreme]."

"This is a very unique access challenge where, in some places, the only way to reach people is by helicopters." 

"It's a very, very expensive operation."

"When the first drone went up in the air with the food attached to it, I knew that it was a game-changer... It's an innovation in delivering food assistance."

"What we are learning in Nepal with the use of these cargo drones will change the way WFP reaches people in need."  

United Nations World Food Programme Nepal Country's Director Riaz Lodhi  

Using drones to provide aid in Nepal is a game changer.  Prabin Ranashat / AFP via Gety Images

 

 Following Nepal's devastating floods, the UN World Food Programme faced the most challenging of its responses to such devastation as was caused when a Himalayan glacier collapsed on August 26, causing a catastrophic flood at the China-Nepal border. The ensuing floodwaters destroyed roads, bridges and hydropower dams. The tentative figure of 1,446 dead and over 6,500 people missing across both countries is a testament to the severity of the situation.

 

According to Riaz Lodhi, head of the World Food Programme in Nepal, the tsunami-like flood and its aftermath produced a situation that distinguished itself as being among the "top three most challenging disasters" ever faced by his agency. Rescue teams faced arduous journeys to reach  the isolated regions where the worst impact of the flood was situated. As a result of the altered landscape, efforts to reach the afflicted saw journeys that took two hours normally, became ordeals lasting a full day.

A drone carrying relief supplies to a flood-affected area takes off in Trishuli, Nepal's Nuwakot district, on September 4, 2026. Credit: PRABIN RANABHAT / AFP via Getty Images

 

Even so, there are many communities close to the epicentre of the flooding event that remain cut off, even yet. The World Food Programme decided to deploy cargo drones in delivering food to isolated communities. In 2015 during a previous deadly earthquake, the delivery of life-sustaining materials relied on the use of mules, yaks and porters hauling food on their backs. These missions could take two to three days before those in need were reached.

 

The drones are capable of carrying between 30 and 100 kilograms, given operating conditions. "People in need, they didn't have to wait for days", stated Mr. Lodhi. "The food was reaching there immediately", making the difference between death and survival under challenging conditions. 

 

Technicians prepare a drone before it carries relief supplies to a flood-affected area in Trishuli in Nepal on 4 September 2026 (AFP/Getty)

 

 

 

 

Nepal's Changing Climate

The mountain range of Mount Everest from South Col. AFP via Getty Images

"Most of the tourists come to Nepal to see snow-filled mountains, but if these mountains turn into black hills that will ultimately affect tourism."

"But the erratic snowfall seen in present days has made us question if that plan [to promote snow-based tourism; e.g. skiing holidays] will succeed."

Dhananjay Regmi, chief executive officer, Nepalese tourism board

"Seeing no snowfall at this time of year in Nepal is a very strange thing."

"Climate change is something that I heard was happening in other countries, but now we are experiencing it in front of our eyes."

Sushil Raj Poudel, president, Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, western region

 

"From our ancestors' days there has been the belief that there would be a bumper crop in a year that saw enough snowfall."

"Now I have to buy food from outside [as warmer temperatures hit his fields]."

Shanta Bahadur Bishowkarma, Dhampus region farmer

 

"Due to rising temperatures in higher regions, insects are shifting from the lower belt, so new pests are seen in higher regions these days."

"The mountainous districts are already struggling with food insecurity and these things make the problem more serious."

Arjun Rayamajhi, plant protection officer, Agriculture Knowledge Center, Darchula 

 

Extreme adventurers from abroad have traditionally gone to Nepal to register and pay the fee for climbing permits  to enable them to set out on expeditions in the great Himalayan mountains representing the earth's crust's primal upheaval with mountains emerging that became the ceiling of the world stretching to the sky and beyond. To access K2 or Mount Everest is a lofty ambition of many extreme athletes and adventurers setting out on their own, with a small expedition, or those paying handsomely to be taken up the mountains by accredited expedition crews guided by sherpas.

The Himalayas play a more fundamental, utilitarian role in the region when its vast burden of seasonal snow begins to melt in the spring bringing down torrents of water in Nepal, India and China to communities living at the base of the mountains to irrigate farmers' fields and to provide potable water to those same communities and beyond. It's next-to-impossible to imagine any of these great giants of immense and vast geological formation without accumulated depths of snow.

It is that snow, along with the granite of the majestic mountains, their impressive heights and extreme weather conditions and rarefied oxygen that awe and thrill expeditions planning to achieve their summits in these realms of drama and beauty of these landscapes. Tourism and the dollars it brings in is a huge asset to these countries where so many of its people living in isolated splendour also live in poverty, reliant on the landscape's natural resources for water, and the draw of the tourism trade.

Hotels in the region, catering to snow-enthusiastic tourists are now lacking reservations; no one to come along and stay awhile in close view of the imposing mountains backgrounding the villages that host the tourist trade. "The snowfall we had five years ago we more than two-feet-deep -- but we didn't have significant snowfall after that", observed owner Baburam Giri in front of his Hotel Yama Sakura.

Of course, worldwide hotels in tourist spots that normally draw hundreds of thousands of people have been facing a similar dilemma during the global pandemic. In Nepal, however, the additional problem of a lack of snow in a landscape synonymous with snow has created an especial dilemma. Eventually tourists will return to those other places of immense tourist attraction; Nepal, however is facing a special situation that only nature herself can remedy.

This picture taken on March, 24, 2020 shows mules carrying empty gas cylinders along a path in the Mt. Everest region. The Himalayan hilltown of Khumjung should be bustling with foreign trekkers gearing up for one of Mount Everest's biggest weeks of the year, but the coronavirus shut down the mountain and threatened the livelihood of the sherpas who rely on it. AFP via Getty Images

"Many domestic and local tourists come to this area to play in the snow whenever there is snowfall. But (now) the hotel is almost empty", the hotel owner mourned. Not only tourism is affected, but agronomy as well, along with industries that have their base in the mountainous regions of Nepal; all suffering a steep drop in income in recent years linked to a lack of heavy snowfall; their problem held by environmental and climate  scientists to be linked to rising global temperatures reflecting climate change.

 

At the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, depending on remote sensing technology for data acquisition, studies show that snow cover has decreased steadily in Nepal and the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. "The temperature of Nepal is rising at the rate of 0.6C per decade", the regional program manager explained. Nepal's Department of Hydrology and Meteorology released a report in December that predicted the average temperature this winter would be above normal; the average precipitation below normal.

On agricultural land the snow and cold helped maintain crops free of pests,with cold temperatures killing off predatory insects and disease with the potential to destroy plants, failing to flourish in the extreme cold. It's a double disaster; since there is now insufficient melting snow to irrigate crops as there has always been, in the past. Low temperatures have the effect of diminishing pest reproduction. Pests that once could not survive in Nepal's icy mountains now are beginning to thrive there.

 

According to climate researchers, those familiar snow-full winters are set to become increasingly rarer in Nepal over decades to come. Leading Sushil Raj Poudel of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal to explain that group members no longer are able to rely on the tourist boom that would always materialize after heavy snowfalls.

 

A sign points towards the Everest base camp in Solukhumbu district 140km northeast of Nepal's capital Kathmandu    AFP via Getty Images

Because It's There : Climbing Mount Everest

"Mount Everest is still a very dangerous mountain, and climbing it will never become a walk in the park, because it's way above the limits of what most people can do."  "By analyzing climbing data, we provide accurate information on the chances of success and on the chances of dying, thereby helping climbers make an informed decision about whether to attempt this great peak."                                  Professor Raymond Huey, University of Washington

"The researchers found that a contemporary 60-year-old climber has about the same death rate -- about 2 percent -- as a 48.5-year-old in the earlier period, suggesting '60 is the new 40' when it comes to summiting Everest. The probabilities of summiting were similar for men and women."                              University of Washington researchers

A newly-published study has concluded with interesting but also predictable results. Published by the journal PLOS One, the findings represent a comprehensive view of climbing success and the rate of death to date, on the world highest peak. The 29,000-foot peak, once thought unassailable, has traditionally been sacred to the people of the region, the abode of a goddess who is worshipped by the Sherpas who call the mountain Chomolungma, Mother Goddess of the World.

Twice as many mountaineers successfully climb Mount Everest, pictured, now than three decades ago — but the death rate remains at around 1 per cent, a study has found

 

 

 

 

 Between 1990 and 2005, one third of the  mountaineers who set out to climb Mount Everest reached the summit. Between 2006 and 2019 that success rate doubled to two-thirds realizing success in their bid to reach the top, point out the University of Washington researchers. Current expeditions are likelier to succeed in scaling the mountain, using supplemental oxygen. The thin air at the topmost levels of the mountain, known as the 'Death Zone' can cause high altitude sickness in even the most fit people.

That condition produces brain fog, impacts judgement, creates tiredness, sapping energy when lower air pressure and low oxygen levels wreak havoc in the brain. Climbers acclimatize to lower oxygen levels by gradually approaching the thinner atmosphere, returning from camp 4, for example, to camp 5 to gradualize the impact on their body function. With the use of supplemental oxygen canisters the risk of acquiring mountain sickness is dramatically reduced.

There have been mountaineers, the elite in the field, who have managed to reach the summit eschewing supplemental oxygen; over the years that number has reached up to several hundred ambitious and highly experienced climbers. Another useful climbing tool is the fixed ropes put in place at particularly dangerous places on the mountainside to enable climbers to maintain footing, and not stray from the most direct route to the summit. That dangerous and highly skilled pre-preparation work is usually undertaken by Sherpas under direction from a head Sherpa.

Reaching 29,030 feet above sea level, the summit of Everest in the Himalayas attracts around 500 climbers wanting to scale the world's tallest peak each year. Pictured, the Everest base camp

Communication has improved substantially, and that has been a huge help, since accurate weather reports warn mountaineers what they will be encountering, and with that information, plan when to set off for best possible ascent conditions to the summit -- and when to lay low and wait out the kind of atrocious weather conditions at high altitude that Mount Everest is known for; sudden snowstorms and winds strong enough to rip tents off the mountainside, often trapping summiteers for days in their tents waiting for the storm to pass.

Expedition leaders have gained invaluable experience with repeat climbs, as have the indispensable Sherpas whose climbing prowess has long been acclaimed as essential to the success of a climbing expedition. All those things considered, climbing Everest is extremely dangerous. Roughly one percent of people who attempt the climb succumb to accidental death. Even after a successful ascent the rigours of the descent after an exhausting climb claim more lives than does the ascent itself.

Between 1990 and 2004, 2,211 climbers dedicated their endeavours to mounting the peak, a number that increased to 3,620 people from 2005 to 2019, a rise of about 64 percent. Increasingly, inexperienced climbers take on the challenge of the summit as a prestigious feather in their cap as it were, leading to crowded conditions at narrow precipices and passes when time is of the essence, creating long wait times and adding to exhaustion and danger.

Adventure Travel//Mountaineer//Out There

Comparisons between the two periods show that:

• Summit success rates from the first period to the second period have essentially doubled; two-thirds of climbers now reach the summit, verses one-third previously
• The overall death rate of around 1% hasn't changed
• A contemporary 60-year-old climber has the same success rate (about 40%) as a 40-year-old climber in the prior period -- i.e., 60 is the new 40
• A contemporary 60-year-old climber has the about the same death rate (about 2%) as a 48.5-year-old in the earlier period
• More women are attempting the climb in recent years (14.6%) verses the previous period (9.1%)
• Women and men had very similar odds of success or death in both periods

 

The Sacred Mother Ganges

"The bacterial levels are 'astronomically high'."
"We are not telling people to stop rituals they've done for thousands of years."
"But the government should do more to control the pollution and protect them."
Dr.Shaikh Ziauddin Ahammad, professor of biochemical engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Sheep along the banks of the Bhagirathi River in Harsil Village, about 16 miles from Gangotri. The high Himalayan waters are cleaner, and scientists have been puzzled by drug-resistant germs found there.  The New York Times

"[In Canada, he had heard] there is a river where you can get fined if you even touch it -- and it's just a river, not holy at all."
"Here we have a holy river, and it's very dirty and nothing is being done."
Suraj Semwal, 44, resident of Gangotri, India

"When bacteria are stressed, they turn on their S.O.S. system. It accelerates the rate at which they rearrange their genes and pick up new ones."

"Until then [8 years ago when his former student Dr.Ahammad suggested testing Indian waters], I had avoided India because I thought it was one huge polluted mess."

"[With antibiotic-resistant bacteria so ubiquitous, it would be hard to design a good experiment — one with a] control; [someplace relatively bacteria-free]."

"We needed to find some place with clear differences between polluted and unpolluted areas."
David W. Graham, professor of ecosystems engineering, Newcastle University, Britain 

Tests by scientists show that antibiotic-resistant bacteria appear in the waters of the Ganges in the Himalayan foothills, hundreds of miles before the river encounters any of the usual culprits.

 

 

The sacred Ganges River flows out of the Himalayas, draining out of a glacier where rock silt dyes the freezing water torrent an opaque grey shade. The river is biologically considered to be pristine, absolutely free of bacterial content. Yet, suddenly, there is a stark degradation of its purity, long before it winds past big cities, hospitals, factories or farms. A virulent kind of bacteria, resistant to common antibiotics, desecrates the river.

A study of the Ganges has given researchers insight into the prevalence and spread of drug-resistant infections at a time when it has become one of the medical world's most urgent public health problems. Clues as to the manner in which these pathogens have entered the ecosystem lie within the waters of the Ganges as it winds its way over 2,400 kilometers to the Bay of Bengal; the river in its timeless course becomes one of the most polluted rivers on the planet.

Rafters in Rishikesh, India. The population in the area swells to from less than 100,000 to 500,000 during tourist and pilgrimage seasons.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been found, according to annual tests by scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology, while the river is yet at its origins, still flowing through the narrow gorges of the foothills of the fabled Himalaya, well before it encounters a situation that would pollute its waters with resistant germs. India is known to be the second-most populous country in the world. It is a nation of religion-based customs. Researchers readily reached the conclusion that the source of the pollution is humans.

Great throngs of people converge on the Ganges for special occasions. Aside from that, the river is used for bathing, for cleaning and washing clothing, it is where effluent from human waste and tainted garbage from factories and hospitals end up. Ritual bathers flock to the Ganges to wash away their sins and immerse themselves in the holy Ganges.

The research that is being carried on will lead to a better understanding of the mechanism whereby drug-resistant bacteria leap from person-to-person outside a hospital setting.

The numerous watersheds in the mountains across the Deccan Plateau and its vast delta serve the needs of 400 million people, representing a full third of India's massive population. From those sources they take their potable water for humans and animals. Two of Dr. Ahammad's doctoral students twice yearly take samples along the river from Gangotri to the sea, to test for the presence of organisms with drug-resistant genes.

In the river's lower stretches, the  high levels of bacterial counts came as no surprise, given the proximity of humanity. It was the unexpected discovery of bacteria with resistant genes discovered in the river's first 160 kilometers, after leaving Gangotri to flow past the next downstream cities. More to the point, the research team discovered levels of bacteria with resistant genes to be consistently low in winter, only to surge during May and June, the pilgrimage season.

Pilgrims bathed in the Bhagirathi River, at the headwaters of the Ganges, in Gangotri, India.  The New York Times

Rishikesh is the most famous of the Upper Ganges' pilgrimage cities where the population in winter is around 100,000, swelling during the pilgrimage-vacation season to a half-million people. The waste of 78,000 people can be handled by the city's sewage treatment plant, clearly inadequate for the numbers involved at peak season, let alone year-around residents. To augment the treatment plant capacity the government provides portable toilets, vulnerable to the slightest rainstorm that can flush sewage into the river.

Dr.Ahammad and his academic mentor Dr. D.W. Graham of Newcastle University -- a pioneer in drug-resistant bacteria -- in 2014 found the site of contamination where the clean Ganges becomes the contaminated Ganges to be at its starkest at Rishikesh, where upstream the water was found to be fairly clean summer and winter, but downstream in summer bacteria with drug-resistance genes proliferated wildly, a finding that led them to several conclusions.

First, that the resistant bacteria had to have come from people and more specifically from their intestines. Intriguingly, the source of the resistant bacteria appeared to be healthy people; pilgrims who were yoga students or river rafters. Yet these are the people who shed bacteria into the Ganges, according to the research by Drs. Ahammad and Graham. Should someone else pick up the bacteria, then become ill, is given antibiotics, that person's good bacteria can be expunged with the bad ones opportunistically filling in.

The researchers reached the conclusion that pilgrimage areas are "potential hot spots for antibiotic resistance transmission at large scales". "Ganga is our mother -- drinking her water is our fate", commented Jairam Bhai, a 65-year-old food vendor, waiting to descend into the water. "If you have faith, you are safe."

Rafters in Rishikesh, India. The population in the area swells to from less than 100,000 to 500,000 during tourist and pilgrimage seasons. The New York Times

A Mysterious Frozen Lake Disgorging Its Corpses

"It's hard to believe that each individual died in exactly the same way. We were extremely surprised by the genetics of the Roopkund skeletons."
"The presence of individuals with ancestries typically associated with the eastern Mediterranean suggests that Roopkund Lake was not just a site of local interest, but instead drew visitors from across the globe."
Eadaoin Harney, lead author, evolutionary biologist, Harvard University

"We have searched all the archives, but no such records [journeys of distinct populations in antiquity] were found."
"It is still not clear what brought these individuals to Roopkund Lake or how they died. We hope that this study represents the first of many analyses of this mysterious site."
Niraj Raf, ancient DNA expert, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, India

Roopkund Lake and its surrounding mountains. (Atish Waghwase)

"Through the use of biomolecular analyses, such as ancient DNA, stable isotope dietary reconstruction, and radiocarbon dating, we discovered that the history of Roopkund Lake is more complex than we ever anticipated."
David Reich, geneticist, Harvard Medical School

"Individuals belonging to the Indian-related group had highly variable diets, showing reliance on C₃ and C₄ derived food sources. These findings are consistent with the genetic evidence that they belonged to a variety of socioeconomic groups in South Asia."
"In contrast, the individuals with eastern Mediterranean-related ancestry appear to have consumed a diet with very little millet."
Ayushi Nayak, archaeologist, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Skeletal remains from as many as 500 people might lie in and around Roopkund lake.   Awanish Tirkey / Shutterstock

Scientists in India, the United States and Germany have published the results of a study they collaborated in, examining DNA from 38 remains found 16,500 feet above sea level at Roopkund Lake, known colloquially as 'Skeleton Lake' for the human bones it disgorges from time to time. The new genetic analysis published in Nature Communications, according to Jennifer Raff, a geneticist and anthropologist from University of Kansas, not involved in this research, has led to "a far richer view into the possible histories of this site".

That it may have done, but the mystery of how much, less why the lake became a funeral depository for people whose genetic differences indicate they came from diverse parts of the world is no closer to being solved. The lake, one hundred and thirty feet in width, remains frozen for most of the year in its snowbound valley. When warm days arrive, a macabre spectacle can be seen with hundreds of human skeletons emerging, some with flesh remaining attached to the bones.

The mystery of what it all means has puzzled scientists for years; how did the people buried there arrive, and from where, and why would the lake be designated a burial site? The prevailing thesis up until this new published research, was simultaneous mass death owing to a catastrophic event that occurred over a thousand years earlier. An anthropological survey dating back several years had studied five of the skeletons, concluding them to date from 1,200 years ago.

Roopkund Lake and its mysteries have been known to science for the past several decades -- while the provenance of its skeletons was a puzzle. The fact that the site has been disturbed as a result of rock slides, the migration of ice disturbing the site, as well as human visitors disturbing and moving remains made it awkward to decipher when and how the burials took place, let alone who was buried there: "In a case like this, that becomes impossible", bioarchaeologist Cat Jarman of University of Bristol, England, explained.

Led by Niraj Raj and David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard University, the researchers extracted DNA from the remains of dozens of skeletal samples, identifying 28 as males and 15 females. Tests placed these individual skeletons into three distinct genetic groupings; twenty three, both males and females indicated ancestries typical of contemporary South Asians. Their remains had been deposited at the lake some time between the seventh and 10th centuries, discretely.

Some of the skeletons were identified as more ancient than others; many lifetimes apart. The findings settled on two more genetic groups suddenly appearing at the lake between the 17th and 20th centuries; one identified as being of East Asian-related ancestry, the remainder, 14 individuals of eastern Mediterranean ancestry. The great conundrum is how all these individuals died. No evidence can be found of bacterial infections, ruling out an epidemic.

There were children and elderly adults among the skeletons, none familial-related. Individuals were identified from chemical signatures as having had significantly varied diets, suggesting that several distinct population groups were involved. The genetic ancestry appears to resemble that of people today living in Greece or Crete, but it is clear that those from the distant eastern Mediterranean came from a far distance to reach Roopkund Lake, their reasons beyond obscure.

Roopkund Lake is 16,499 feet above sea level in the Indian Himalayas. (Pramod Joglekar)

Nature's Agenda

"It happened extremely quickly; within seconds, we were separated. Three people in our group were swept away [and] we tried to find them but there was about 20 metres of snow accumulated at the bottom of the avalanche. We fought for survival and we were lucky."
Sonia Levesque, Montreal lawyer

"I was sure I was going to die on the way to the pass because I lost my group, I lost all the people I was with and I could not see anything."
"One Nepalese guide who knows the way saw me and asked me to stay with him. And he dragged me, really dragged me to the tea shop. And everybody there was really frightened."
Linor Kajan, injured trekker from Israel

"We tried not to sleep. We tried not to get hypothermia. It was a very frightening and awful situation."
Yakov Megreli, Israeli survivor

To date, it is estimated that 39 trekkers died this week on Nepal's Annapurna mountain. Among the dead are people who came from Nepal itself, who were travelling familiar pathways during a season of religious festivities, when adverse weather conditions and avalanches struck. It was known even before that time that the chances of avalanches occurring were high, given unusual prevailing snow and weather conditions.

Among the others who died on the mountain were Japanese, Israeli, Canadian, Indian Slovakian, Vietnamese and Polish trekkers. Many of the dead have not yet been identified. All of whom were taking advantage of a seasonal window of opportunity, when experience has been that these are safest months of the fall season to undertake such treks.

Nepal is highly dependent on the tourism that the immense splendour of its mountains brings to help their modest and struggling economy. The disaster of four days earlier is unprecedented, in its broad sweep of victims. There have been rescue evacuations undertaken rescuing at last count 384 people from the Annapurna trail, accounting for 216 foreigners.

Soldiers carry an injured trekker from the Thorung La mountain pass, on the Annapurna Circuit on Wednesday. Photograph: Nepalese Army/EPA

Many of those who have been rescued suffered frostbite severe enough that they will now face life-altering surgery, including the amputation of limbs. There are still known to be 22 hikers stranded at Thorung La pass, the high point of the Annapurna circuit, facing a shortage of food and water. And although Army helicopters have attempted a rescue, they were unable to land.

With their limited resources, most of the missing and dead are believed to be at the maximum heights that helicopters can reach. They were on a narrow trail, higher than people can imagine, about four thousand metres, seemingly close enough to touch the sky soaring above the mountain.

Two Canadian women also feared dead had been in Annapurna Sanctuary close to where the avalanche occurred. They watched as helicopters flew overhead, having themselves no direct knowledge of the avalanche and the blinding blizzard, and the disaster it brought to so many in a time and a place and a season where thousands were hiking on the mountain.

"We are trekking out of the avalanche danger zone and heading back down along the circuit. We are now in Manang on the lower side of the pass and hope to be in Pokhara in 3-4 days", wrote Virginia Schwartz of Quebec who along with her trekking partner Jane Van Criekingen posted a message on Facebook to give relief to their concerned families.

Roughly 70 people remain missing, according to Ganga Sagar Pant of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, with the death toll expected to continue to rise. International hikers were trekking along the route, 160 kilometres northwest of Kathmandu during peak October season when the air is most often clear and cool. Local festivals brought out many Nepalese as well, on the trails.

Two trekkers from Hong Kong and a dozen Israelis were airlifted to Kathmandu, to be treated at a hospital there. The Israelis' survival was due to their being able to take refuge in a small tea shop along the path, during the blizzard that encompassed the area. They were more fortunate than many others desperate to take shelter but for whom there was no room with others already crowded within, leaving 50 out in the storm, hoping to be able to somehow survive their deadly exposure to the elements.

According to Nepali tourism officials, there remains uncertainty over how many trekkers might actually be missing, since many among them had evidently set off on their treacherous adventure on that fateful day without having obtained official permits. In Manang District 129 people were rescued and 31 in Mustang district.

An estimated 100 people yet remaining missing in Upper Dolpo in Western Nepal, an critical area which rescuers have not yet been able to reach. There were, according to the local newspaper Kantipur, 11 groups in the region, including about 40 Nepali cooks, guides and porters, and 60 foreign trekkers.

Nepal blizzards claim lives of at least 12 trekkers

BBC News online -- 15 October 2014

At least 12 people have been killed and many more are missing in blizzards in the Himalayas in Nepal, officials say.

Trekkers were trapped in heavy snowfall as they returned from the Thorung La mountain pass on the Annapurna Circuit, in Mustang district.

Nepalese, Polish and Israeli citizens are reported to be among the dead. Nearly 40 others were rescued.

Meanwhile five more climbers are presumed dead after an avalanche in nearby Manang district.
Officials say four were from Canada and one from India.

Three Nepalese farmers have also been killed in a separate avalanche in the same area.

Analysis: Phanindra Dahal, BBC Nepali, Kathmandu

2014 has not been good a year for Nepal's trekking and mountaineering industry. An avalanche on Mount Everest in April killed 16 Sherpas - and resulted in a near complete halt to expeditions to the world's highest peak during the spring season.

The latest disaster comes during the peak trekking period. Thousands of tourists head to Nepal in October, many to enjoy its high altitude mountain passes and pristine beauty. The freak heavy snowfall caught the trekkers off guard.

The tragedy will badly hurt Nepal's tourism, with officials worried about the wider negative message it sends. Trekking and mountaineering are the key backbones of the industry - the major foreign exchange earner for Nepal.

Officials have said that the unexpected snowfall was probably caused by the tail end of Cyclone Hudhud, reports the BBC's Phanindra Dahal in Kathmandu.

Hudhud hit south-east India earlier this week - satellite pictures now show it moving away from Nepal towards China.

The bad weather hit a resting place 4,500m (14,800ft) above sea level, not far below the Circuit's highest point, the Thorung La pass.

The trekkers who were killed or remain missing were on their way down.

An army official co-ordinating the search operation said two military helicopters had been sent from the capital Kathmandu to assist the rescue operation.

Correspondents say the latest disasters are another massive blow to Nepal's trekking industry which plays a vital role in the country's economy.

Thousands of trekkers visit the Annapurna region every October, when weather conditions are usually favourable for hiking trips.

The deaths come just months after 16 Sherpa mountain guides died in Nepal's worst ever accident on Mount Everest.

Nepal's high peaks attract some of the world's best climbers - but trekking is generally safe and appeals to masses of ordinary outdoor enthusiasts