Nepal retrieves five climbers' bodies after avalanche

Rescuers in Nepal have retrieved the bodies of five climbers who were killed in an avalanche near the Chinese border in November 2025, officials said Sunday.

Phurba Tenjing Sherpa, director of the expedition company Dreamers Destination, said all five bodies were recovered by helicopter on Sunday morning by his rescue team. He said the dead included an Italian-Canadian, a German, an Italian and two Nepalis.

The avalanche hit the climbers on the lower flanks of Yalung Ri, a 5,630-metre peak near Nepal's border with Tibet. Sherpa said his team and other expedition companies had searched the area after the avalanche, but thick snow prevented them from finding the bodies at the time. He said the bodies were located after the snow melted.

Senior local police officer Manoj Kumar Lama said the bodies would be taken to Kathmandu once the weather was clear.

Nepal is home to eight of the world's 10 highest peaks, including Mount Everest, and receives thousands of climbers and trekkers each year. The Himalayan Database says more than 1,000 people have died on peaks since 1950, with avalanches causing almost a third of those deaths.