World

Nepal rescue teams make final search

21:06 pm on 19 October 2014

Rescue teams in Nepal say they are making a final search for survivors on a popular Himalayan trekking route that was hit by a devastating storm.

It was Nepal's worst-ever trekking disaster. Photo: AFP

It is the fifth day that Nepalese army and private helicopters have been searching for stranded climbers.

It is not clear how many people may still be missing in the country's worst-ever trekking disaster.

At least 43 people are known to have died, and nearly 400 people have been rescued from the Annapurna trail.

The BBC reports that the focus is increasingly on recovering bodies still buried in the snow - and improving the flow of information on those caught up in the disaster.

The trail is very high and covers a very large area, and some trekkers who escaped the storm have got into trouble as they tried to hike down a few days later.

There are currently three different lists of the dead and survivors, being run by the army, the home ministry and Nepal's trekking association and some people may have been counted twice.

The authorities say they now want to create just one single list.

Nepalese, Japanese, Israeli, Canadian, Indian, Slovak, Vietnamese and Polish trekkers are said to be among the dead.

Many survivors have been left with severe frostbite and will have to have limbs amputated.