Nepal blizzard deaths

This item appears on page 70 of the December 2014 issue.

On Thorong La Pass, part of the Annapurna Circuit trail in a section of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal, at least 41 people died from exposure when an unseasonable and sudden blizzard dropped over 5½ feet of snow on the pass in less than 12 hours on Oct. 14. Nearly 400 hikers became stranded.

The Nepalese Army rescued hundreds of the hikers, many suffering from frostbite or injured with broken bones, before the effort was halted on Oct. 19 due to worsening weather. At press time, recovery efforts were ongoing, with the number of hikers still missing not known.