Boy survives amid killer avalanches

Kathmandu (Reuter) - A teenage Nepali boy given up for dead in an avalanche survived for 24 hours and was pulled from deep snow yesterday, well except for frostbite, Nepali rescue officials said.

Forty-three people were killed in weekend avalanches and landslides in the Himalayan country, including 17 foreigners: 13 Japanese, an Irish woman, two Canadians and a German.

Rescuers yesterday helped 115 foreign trekkers from a valley near Mount Everest. "Some of the rescued were in shoulder-deep snow," said Bikash J B Rana, a Nepal Airways helicopter pilot. "Most are suffering from snow blindness, frostbite and hunger."

The avalanche in which the 13 Japanese died on Saturday is also believed to have killed 13 Nepalis. But Deepak Nepali, 17, managed to survive by perching between two rocks in snow 4ft (1.3m) deep, rescue officials said.

The Japanese and their Sherpa guides and porters were buried in the snow as they slept in a camp at Pangka, about 170 miles north-east of Kathmandu at around 1am on Saturday. They were trekking their way to the Gokyo Valley, the popular hiking area 12 miles south-west of Everest.

Another 17 people were killed when landslides caused by continuous rain crushed houses and trekkers' lodges in Manang and Panchathar districts.