Rescue teams search for 14 missing Nepalese guides and staff after avalanche buries Himlung Himal base camp

From the Newshound archive · first published 27 September 2026 · last updated 28 September 2026.

An avalanche hit the base camp of Himlung Himal, a 7,126-metre peak in Nepal's Manang district, on Sunday morning, engulfing a tent that held nine climbers and 13 support staff. The Nepal National Mountain Guides Association reports that 14 kitchen staff are still unaccounted for after two missing guides were found dead, raising the confirmed death toll to four. Severe weather initially grounded helicopters and prevented rescue teams from accessing the remote site near the Tibetan border.

No foreign climbers had yet reached the camp — the guides and Nepalese support staff had arrived ahead of them to prepare the site and fix ropes when the avalanche struck.

The avalanche comes just weeks after the deadly flash floods that killed nearly 1,400 people across Nepal.