The Israeli foreign ministry has confirmed reports that three Israeli trekkers were among 29 people killed in Nepal.
Severe weather triggered by the tail end of Cyclone Hudhud, which battered neighbouring India’s east coast, hit trekking groups on the Annapurna circuit as well as mountaineers trying to scale the avalanche-prone Mount Dhaulagiri in central Nepal.
The dead included both foreigners and locals and the death toll was expected to rise as the search continued for some 100 people unaccounted for.
As search and rescue efforts resumed, local officials said the bodies of 24 trekkers had been found on the popular Annapurna circuit, while five more mountaineers who were in an area hit by an avalanche could not be found and were presumed dead.
Rabbi David Slavin, director of Chabad in Nepal, said that the storm occurred Tuesday afternoon and that currently uncertainty prevails in the region. “We know that approximately 200 Israelis are in the region, the majority of whom have been evacuated, however we still don’t have an exact number of missing people,” he said.
The Chabad House in Nepal has set up a situation room, which has been flooded with phone call from concerned relatives.
Foreign Ministry officials said that diplomats from the Israeli embassy in India have been sent to Nepal to aid the smaller embassy in Kathmandu in the crisis.
Thousands of trekkers visit the Annapurna region every October, when weather conditions are usually deemed favorable for hiking trips.