KATHMANDU: Around 160 trekkers, most of them from Australia, Europe, New Zealand, have been stranded across mountain regions in Nepal, including Everest, due to the Nepal lockdown imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Nepal on Tuesday went into a a seven-day lockdown, barring movements except for only essential services after health officials reported a second case of coronavirus in the country.
Talking to Khabarhub, Shradha Shrestha, an official of Nepal Tourism Board, said, “Nearly 100 trekkers have been stranded in Lukla for the past few days. We are coordinating with the Home Ministry to obtain special permit to rescue them.”
Lukla, which lies at an altitude of 2,800 meters, is the gateway to Everest, the highest peak of the world.
“We have received emails from many foreign tourists. Around 60 trekkers have been stranded in Jomsom,” she said, adding, “3-4 trekkers were waiting to be rescued from Langtang, a trekking route west of the capital Kathmandu.”
Aside from complete lockdown, which came into effect on Tuesday, Nepal last week introduced a raft of measures including suspension of international and domestic flights, sealing borders with India and China to combat coronavirus.
The country, so far, has three confirmed cases of coronavirus.
After the first case broke out in Chinese City Wuhan on December 31, the novel coronavirus has spread to 198 countries, claiming the lives of 20,307 and infecting 472,076 as of Thursday morning.
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