Search for bodies in Nepal village suspended due to avalanches

The search for missing trekkers, guides and residents feared buried in Nepal village by a massive landslide and avalanche triggered by last month's magnitude 7.8 earthquake has been suspended due to bad weather, officials said on Sunday.

The suspension of the search in Langtang underscores the challenging conditions facing rescuers, soldiers and aid workers two weeks after the April 25 quake struck, killing at least 7,913 people and injuring more than 17,800.

"Fresh avalanches are hitting the area continuously," Gautam Rimal, a district official, told

Reuters . "Rescuers who were searching for bodies have now moved to safe places."

Twenty bodies were recovered on Friday, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in Langtang to 120. Two of the bodies, however, were almost immediately buried again in a new avalanche, he said.

Large swaths of remote, hard-to-access locations such as Langtang, 60 km (35 miles) north of the capital Kathmandu, were devastated in the earthquake, and aid agencies say many places have yet to be reached to assess the damage or deliver relief supplies.

Officials remained unsure how many people were in Langtang village, in the heart of a popular trekking and climbing area, when the earthquake and landslide struck. Residents have said that as many as 180 people may still be buried under the snow.

Mr. Rimal said the search in Langtang would resume once the weather cleared and daily avalanches stop.

The bodies of nine foreigners killed in Langtang have been sent to Kathmandu, and bodies of residents have been handed over to relatives.

Rain stalls rescue work in Nepal

>

Toll could reach 10,000, says Nepal Prime Minister

With no electricity, Kathmandu looked a ghost town with rain pounding the city..

>

A selection of images capturing the extent of damage

These visualisations show how the intensity varied with distance from epicentre. > Read more The PM spoke to Nepal President and Chief Ministers of Bihar, Sikkim. > Read more Helpline no.s: +91 11 2301 2113, +91 11 2301 4104 and +91 11 2301 7905. > Read more

"Blind thrust" quakes are ones that do not break the surface, and tend to be more frequent. These records indicate that the region has a rich history of quakes in the past centuries. > Read more

A magnitude-7.8 earthquake shook Nepal’s capital and the densely populated Kathmandu Valley on Saturday, the worst quake in the Himalayan nation in over 80 years. A look at the world’s strongest earthquakes since 1900. > Read more