Trekkers helicoptered off mountains as more deadly landslides hit Nepal

Trekkers airlifted from mountains as fresh deadly landslides strike Nepal

Another round of landslides and torrential rain has killed about 30 people in Nepal, as the Himalayan country continues to recover from August’s devastating floods that left 1,400 dead and thousands more unaccounted for.

The national disaster management authority says more than 1,900 families have been affected since late last week, with over 240 homes damaged. Roads, buildings and bridges have been washed away.

Hundreds of trekkers on the Annapurna Circuit, which is vital to Nepal’s economy, have been forced to end their hikes early in order to reach safety.

Many have been helicoptered out of the districts of Manang and Mustang, from a trekking route that normally takes up to three weeks to finish.

Communities in several parts of Nepal are grieving for relatives they have lost.

Speaking from a wet blue tent in Battar, a town north-west of Kathmandu, Buti Tamang told BBC Nepali: "We used to live in a hut, but now there is nothing. We have lost so many of our relatives."

"Now it is raining and the tent leaks, so we've been facing a difficult situation. We have nowhere to go," said Ramesh Ghale, who also had to flee his home.

Many Nepalis have been left homeless and are living in emergency tents as a new wave of extreme weather hits.

Several trekkers and their guides say the journey back down the mountains has been hazardous, taking as long as three or four days and forcing them to cross collapsed roads and washed-away bridges.

Jake Stacy, a 21-year-old from Suffolk, found himself stranded with his guide in Yak Kharka, upper Manang, because of heavy snowfall last week and chose not to continue to the Thorang La pass, the highest point on the circuit.

"We made our own paths on mountain slopes," he said after getting back to base camp in Pokhara on Tuesday night. "It was quite steep and we were clambering because there was river below… It was very muddy and very wet.

"Many trekkers were helicoptered out," he added.

Jake Stacy and his guide had to make their own routes on the mountains to get back after heavy snowfall

Australian Andrew Graham and his guide Prem KC said they had to pass more than 15 landslides after deciding to turn back from Manang village. "A few of them were quite dangerous, the residual risks have grown now."

The pair became stranded when they arrived in the village of Chame, which had been evacuated because of landslide danger, and had to spend a night in the jungle, Graham said.

A huge landslide has partly blocked a river running through Chame, creating a temporary lake that has flooded houses and an important bridge. Authorities have spent the past three days trying to drain the water with excavators but have not been very successful, locals told the BBC.

Meanwhile, trekking guide Tse Ring Doma said she and her group had to cross 28 landslides. She said the mental strain was harder than the physical challenge, given the fresh memory of last month’s huge disaster: "Even thunder would make us run and come out to see if anything was coming our way."

Her client, Norwegian Ellen Wahlström, said visitors were lucky - they would only have to leave some of their belongings behind, while locals risked losing their homes and land. She added that authorities had been clearing many of the landslides "surprisingly fast".

Trekkers have struggled across the landslide-hit landscape - and around 700 have been stopped from even beginning the Annapurna Circuit

Although road damage in Manang has been severe, with several bridges swept away and communications down in some areas, no one has been killed in the trekking region, chief district officer Mukti Prasad Khanal said.

But four bodies have been recovered and 12 people remain missing after an avalanche near the base of Himlung Peak, close to the border with Tibet.

A representative of the local trekking authority, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, said about 700 trekkers were still waiting in Pokhara to start the Annapurna Circuit.

"We have been holding back all these people who want to go to the Annapurna Circuit trek, although we are under pressure from the trekking industry to announce the route open," he said.

Indian visitors who often travel to the ancient temple Muktinath on a Hindu pilgrimage had been told to fly from Jomson to Pokhara instead of driving down because of a blocked road, he added.

Most of the old trekking trails on the Annapurna Circuit have gone unused in recent years since roads were introduced, apart from small sections in Manang and Mustang districts.

But now operators say many trekkers have been using these abandoned paths to return, as the main roads have been washed away in parts of the circuit.