More than 100 hikers are missing while 24 bodies were recovered after an avalanche and blizzard storm hit the popular climbing site, Annapurna Circuit, on Wednesday. 

Nepalese authorities have dispatched search, rescue and retrieval teams on what is considered to be one of the darkest tragedies in the Himalayan region.

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Five climbers camping at the base camp when Cyclone Hudhud reached the north central part of Nepal are presumed dead while three Nepalese yak shepherds were killed.  Death toll is raised to 32 in addition to 43 stranded hikers, according to Ganesh Rai, the police official in charge of the emergency operations.

According to district official Devendra Lamichanne, rescue teams identified four Canadians, two Israelis, one Polish, one Indian, one German, one Vietnamese, and 11 Nepalese from the Sherpa tribe.

The search includes two Slovakian mountaineers and three Nepalese guides who were stationed at Dhaulagiri Massif base camp (8,167 MASL), a known tourist destination south of Annapurna.  Sixteen bodies in Mustang District were located though no details on the number of foreign climbers are available, Rai told AFP.

Also, at least 14 climbers from Hong Kong suffering from frostbite were airlifted to Kathmandu local hospitals for first aid.

Early this week, a 67-year-old French climber who is a part of the 10-man Manaslu expedition fell into an overflowing, relayed Gorkha police chief Ramesh.  Rescue efforts have become more difficult due to poor telecommunication signal and heavy downpour caused by the cyclone. 

Some 168 foreign climbers registered to climb the tenth highest mountain in the world but authorities are not dismissing possibilities that more could have been caught in the snow storm.

Scaling Annapurna is considered one of the deadliest feats in the world of mountaineering.  Thousands of climbers travel to Nepal even on wet season, providing local livelihood to families situated at the foot of the mountain.

TagsDisaster Accident, Geography of Asia, Nepal