Hopes faded on Sunday for survivors of one of Nepal’s worst ever mountain disasters.<br /><br />At least 43 people are known to have died after a snowstorm brought blizzards to the Annapurna trail in the Himalayas.<br /><br />Army helicopters are now focusing on recovering bodies buried in the snow.<br /><br />Colonel Niranjan Kumar Shrestha, Nepalese Army spokesman, explained how the adverse weather has affected the rescue and recovery mission.<br /><br />“Terrain is okay but it is the matter of the weather and thickness of the snow that is hampering our movement basically,” he said.<br /><br />“It has improved from yesterday but if the snowing is stopped then very heavy wind is there. So, whenever there is heavy wind, operating chopper is very difficult,” Shrestha added.<br /><br />More than 400 people have been rescued from the popular route, which includes the world’s tenth tallest peak, after a cyclone in neighbouring India triggered the blizzards and avalanches last week.<br /><br />Many of the injured have been treated for severe frostbite in Kathmandu. <br /><br />The Nepali government admitted it failed to warn about the extreme weather and plans to put an early warning system in place.<br /><br />Seven Israeli hikers who survived returned to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday.<br /><br />One of the hikers, Roey Patael, described how he was completely buried in snow for around 15 hours. He was rescued on the second night.
