Nine climbers dead, seven missing in Nepal avalanche

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Rescuers in Nepal searched on Monday for seven missing climbers after an avalanche which killed at least nine people, swept away in their tents ahead of a final push on one of the world's highest mountains.

The avalanche happened at around 7,400 metres and carried away part of camp number three at 6,800 metres.

Police said the group of climbers were near the top of the 8,156-metre (26,759-foot) Manaslu, one of the world's deadliest peaks, when they were hit by a wall of snow as they were sleeping overnight from Saturday to Sunday.

Four of the dead and three of the missing are French, France's national union of mountain guides (SNGM) told AFP while mountaineering officials in Nepal said an Italian, a German, at least one Spaniard and a Nepali Sherpa had died.

"Seven climbers are missing. The rescue efforts were hampered due to bad weather yesterday. They will resume this morning," ministry spokesman Gyanendra Shrestha told AFP,

Basanta Bahadur Kunwar, the local deputy superintendent of police, told AFP by telephone that 13 people had been rescued alive.

Among those reported missing was a doctor from the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec, cardiologist Dominique Ouimet, the man's sister said.

Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world, is considered one of the most dangerous, with scores of deaths in recent years and just a few hundred successful ascents.

Most come in the spring, when Himalayan conditions are at their best, but there is also a short climbing season in late September and October after the monsoon rains end.