Four Canadians are dead after being caught in an avalanche in Nepal that has killed at least a dozen people.

Three Quebec women are missing in the incident.

The three Quebecers include two women from Montreal and another woman from Quebec City who were part of an excursion organized by Terra Ultima Montreal. Two women from the Ottawa area are also still missing.

“Late last night we learned that our party of six that was trekking in Nepal in the Nar Phu region -- three people were hit by an avalanche,” said Julien Passerini, Terra Ultima’s co-founder.

Three people who were part of the Quebec party have been airlifted and brought to Kathmandu. Terra Ultima would not reveal the identities of the missing hikers.

The trip's leader was a 55-year-old tour guide who worked for Terra Ultima. The two other women from Quebec were 33 and 59 years old.

The women had left Quebec on October 3rd and were due to return on October 24th, part of a group of 12 people hiking in the Nar Phu region in northern Nepal when they were caught in a heavy and unseasonal blizzard that caused the avalanche.

“It is abnormal for this time of the year. There is a cyclone called Hud Hud that is raging in Nepal and India right now, so there was a lot of snowfall – abnormal snowfall. The three people were victims of this snowfall,” said Passerini.

Devendra Lamichane, chief administrator of Manang district, said the Canadians were among five people whose bodies were buried by snow. He expected it would take days to dig them out.

The director of Terra Ultima learned of the avalanche around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, and said he and other staff members had spent the morning contacting the family members of the people on the trek.

He said there is another group of Canadian hikers about 100 km away from where the avalanche struck.


Blizzard causing by cyclone that struck India

Panorama Himalaya also said it had rescued three other Canadian trekkers, according to the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal.

The death toll was likely to rise as rescuers struggled through snow and rough terrain to help dozens who remained stranded, the officials said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper took to Twitter to voice his sympathy.

 

 

Three villagers were killed Monday in the same district, about 160 kilometres northwest of the capital, Kathmandu, and their bodies were recovered on Wednesday.

In the neighbouring Mustang district, four trekkers caught in a blizzard died Tuesday.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of the two Poles, one Israeli and one Nepali trekker from the Thorong La pass area.

It was initially thought that group had been caught in an avalanche, but government official Yam Bahadur Chokyal said the four trekkers instead had been caught in the blizzard and died.

He said another 14 foreign trekkers have been rescued so far, and two army helicopters were picking up injured trekkers and flying them to Jomsom town.

Chokyal said it was not possible to say how many trekkers were still on the route stranded by the deep snow but several of them have reached safe ground on Wednesday because of improved weather.

Five other climbers -- two from Slovakia and three Nepalese guides -- were hit by a separate avalanche on Mount Dhaulagiri and remained missing.

The rain and snow in Nepal were caused by a cyclone that hit neighbouring India several days ago.

October is the most popular trekking season in Nepal, with thousands of foreigners hiking around Nepal's Himalayan mountains.

The Thorong La pass is also on the route that circles Mount Annapurna, the world's 10th highest peak.

An avalanche in April just above the base camp on Mount Everest killed 16 Nepalese guides, the deadliest single disaster on the mountain.

Climate experts say rising global temperatures have contributed to avalanches on the Himalayan mountains.

Safest time of year

The area is considered safe this time of year, said both Passerini and adventurist Bernard Voyer who just returned from Nepal.

“It's highly unusual that such a large region is affected by snowstorms especially at this time of the year. October is the main trekking season for Nepal,” said Passerini.

“It's the best season to go there,” said Voyer, who said hundreds of thousands of people make the trek safely each fall. “People are coming from every country on earth are there it's the most beautiful trek you can make in the world.”

But coming less than a year after another avalanche that took the lives of 16 sherpas at the famed Mount Everest last spring, he now worries how this latest tragedy will affect Nepal's struggling economy.  

“It’s a tragedy and I'm really sad for the family but also for the country,” said Voyer.



With a report from The Associated Press