Three people were pulled out alive from the rubble of their home eight days after Nepal’s devastating earthquake, an official said yesterday, but rescuers have found about 50 bodies on a popular trekking route that was hit by an avalanche.
The current toll of 7,056 dead is likely to rise as an entire village was carried away by the avalanche and many more people are believed to have died, officials said.
A Home Ministry official said police and army rescued three people from the rubble in the district of Sindhupalchowk, northeast of the capital Kathmandu and one of the worst-hit areas in the country. No further details were immediately available.
In the northern Rasuwa district, a Nepali police team has pulled out the bodies of about 50 people, including some foreign trekkers, from the avalanche-hit area, officials said.
The entire village of Langtang was wiped out by the avalanche, said Ganga Sagar Pant, the head of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, who has a representative in the area.
“All that is left is scattered belongings like bags and coats, all the houses have been thrown down the mountain,” he said. “There is nothing left. I don’t think anyone can survive that.”
The village is on a popular trekking route and has 55 guesthouses catering to visitors. It was not clear how many people were there at the time of the avalanche and whether they were foreigners or local villagers.
Rescuers have found about 50 bodies on a popular trekking route hit by the avalanche
None of the recovered bodies has been identified, said Pravin Pokharel, deputy superintendent of police in the northern district of Rasuwa.
Pokharel, who led the police team, said the bodies were pulled out from under snow and ice on Saturday.
At least 200 other people are still missing in Langtang, including villagers and trekkers, said Uddhav Bhattarai, the seniormost bureaucrat in the district.
“We had not been able to reach the area earlier because of rains and cloudy weather,” he said by telephone.
Tulsi Prasad Gautam, the head of Nepal’s tourism department, said: “The death toll of foreigners in Nepal will go higher because in the Langtang area a significant number are still missing.”
US military aircraft and personnel were due to arrive in Nepal during the night, later than expected, to help ferry relief supplies to stricken areas outside the capital Kathmandu, a US Marines spokesman said. Marine Brigadier General Paul Kennedy has said the delayed US contingent included at least 100 US soldiers, lifting equipment and six military aircraft, two of them helicopters.
The team was arriving as criticism mounted over a pile-up of relief supplies at Kathmandu airport, the only international gateway to the Himalayan nation, because of Customs inspections.
UN Resident Representative Jamie McGoldrick said the government must loosen its normal Customs restrictions to deal with the increasing flow of relief pouring in from abroad.