Hundreds of bodies may be buried in Nepal avalanche, official says

May 7, 2015 6:07 AM

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU, May 7 (Reuters) - Body parts are strewn on the slopes of a mountain in Nepal, and up to 300 people, many of them foreigners, are believed buried there by an avalanche set off by last month's devastating earthquake, an official said on Thursday.

Rescuers pulled out six bodies from the Langtang village area, 60 km (40 miles) north of Kathmandu, on Wednesday but operations were being hampered by bad weather, said Gautam Rimal, assistant district administrator in the area.

About 100 bodies were recovered in the area on Saturday and Sunday and Rimal had previously said about 120 more were buried there.

But on Thursday he said the number could be as high as 300, including 110 foreigners. "There are body parts, broken limbs and pieces of flesh scattered in the area," he said.

The government has said 7,759 people were killed in the April 25 earthquake and more than 16,000 injured.

Langtang is on a trekking route popular with Westerners and the village had 55 guesthouses catering for visitors. The village was wiped out by the avalanche but it was not clear how many people were there at the time. (Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Nick Macfie)