Bodies of five missing mountaineers recovered in Nepal

Nine months after a devastating avalanche in Nepal, rescue teams have successfully recovered the bodies of five missing mountaineers. The group, comprising one German, one Italian, one Italo-Canadian, and two Nepalis, disappeared in November 2025.

The climbers were traversing the lower slopes of the 5,630-meter Mount Yalung Ri, located near the Tibetan border, when the avalanche struck. Initial search efforts following the accident were unsuccessful, as the bodies remained buried beneath a substantial layer of snow. The expedition company Dreamers Destination confirmed the recovery on Sunday.

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All five bodies were recovered early this morning by helicopter and our rescue team.

Phurba Tenjing Sherpa, head of Dreamers Destination, stated that the bodies were retrieved early Sunday morning using a helicopter and a rescue team. He explained that the recent success of the search operation was due to snowmelt, which exposed the victims after months of being hidden.

The recovery operation faced delays due to adverse weather conditions. Authorities plan to transport the bodies to Kathmandu as soon as weather permits, according to police representative Manoj Kumar Lama. Nepal, home to eight of the world's ten highest peaks, attracts thousands of climbers annually. However, the treacherous Himalayan terrain has claimed over a thousand lives since 1950, with avalanches accounting for nearly a third of these fatalities.

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The bodies were buried under a thick snow layer. A new search operation was now successful because the snow had melted this time.