KATHMANDU: A search team has spotted a few mortal remains on Yalung Ri peak in Dolakha’s Rolwaling region, where at least seven climbers perished in an avalanche nine months ago.

“We have received information from a search team that a few bodies were spotted at around 5,000m on Yalung Ri today,” a senior government official said, adding that a chopper has already been granted permission to fly to Yalung Ri to collect the remains tomorrow morning.

It is still uncertain whether the bodies spotted by the search team belong to the climbers who perished in the avalanche on November 3 last year.

The avalanche struck on the morning of November 3 while climbers were ascending a steep ice slope near Yalung Ri's summit. Seven climbers, including five foreigners, were buried; five others were injured.

Italian-Canadian Marco Di Marcello, Italian Markus Kirchler, German Jakob Schreiber, and Nepali guides Padam Tamang and Mere Karki were missing in the avalanche. The search team had only found the bodies of Italian climber Paolo Cocco and French national Christian Andre Manfredi, which were recovered on November 5.

The four-member Nepali rescue team, led by IFMGA/NNMGA guide Riten Jangbu Sherpa and including Pasang Kidar Sherpa, Chhiring Sonam Lama, and aspirant guide Pasang Temba Sherpa, had reached the avalanche site on November 5 for a search mission. They were later joined by senior international rescue experts Bruno Joseph Jelk (Switzerland), Michele Cucchi (Italy), and Chhiring Pande Bhote (Nepal), equipped with advanced search and rescue gear. But the team could not find the bodies of the five missing climbers.

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(Details to follow)