POKHARA: Special army and government rescue personnel are searching for four South Korean trekkers and their three Nepali guides lost since an avalanche in the Annapurna region.

All other trekkers who were in the area where the avalanche swept the Mount Annapurna trekking trail on Friday have been safely rescued and flown to safer areas, Department of Tourism official informed.

The avalanche hit part of the Mount Annapurna circuit trekking route after heavy snowfall earlier in the week. In photos taken on Tuesday, sunshine hit bare and grassy mountain slopes. Two days of snowfall followed, and by Friday, snow was neck-deep and several avalanches had occurred.

It is reported that there is no way that anyone buried in that pile could have survived.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said the missing trekkers are two women in their 30s and 50s and two men in their 50s and are teachers who were staying in Nepal for volunteer work.