Avalanche Buries Nepal's Himlung Himal Base Camp, 10 Missing as Historic Flood Season Grinds On

An avalanche struck Himlung Himal Base Camp in western Nepal's Manang district on Sunday morning, September 27, 2026, leaving 10 expedition staff missing, according to the Expedition Operators Association Nepal (EOAN), as reported by The Himalayan Times.

The missing include eight staff members from Himalayan Holidays Nepal and two kitchen staff from Imagine Nepal Treks, EOAN told the outlet. Expedition organizer Mingma Gyalje Sherpa confirmed his two kitchen staff were among those unaccounted for, telling news agency ANI, "The avalanche hit on Sunday morning."

Himlung Himal sits at 7,126 meters near the Tibet border and is a popular training peak for climbers building high-altitude experience, according to Business Today. The base camp had been active with autumn expeditions before the storm system moved in.

Warnings Went Out, Some Stayed Anyway

According to Sherpa's account, carried by the Times of India and ABP Live, expedition and rope-fixing teams had already evacuated the mountain slopes after a weather warning was issued the week before the avalanche. EOAN separately confirmed most climbers and support staff from other operators had descended to lower elevations ahead of the storm, per The Himalayan Times.

But some people stayed at the base camp despite the warning. Those are the ones now missing.

Rescue operations face a specific bureaucratic obstacle. Helicopter flights into the Himlung Himal region require a separate government permit beyond standard expedition clearances, according to Times of India and Business Today. This rule slows emergency access precisely when speed matters most. As of Sunday morning, The Himalayan Times reported no search and rescue details had been released, with authorities and expedition companies still gathering information amid the severe weather.

A Weather System That Won't Quit

The avalanche is the latest blow from a weather system parked over the Bay of Bengal that has dumped heavy snowfall on Nepal's mountains and steady rain on its hills and plains since Friday, September 25. Business Today, citing Nepal's Meteorological Forecasting Division and The Kathmandu Post, reported that Chitwan's Madi Kalyanpur station logged 222.4 millimeters of rain in 24 hours, the highest total in the country. Heavy to very heavy rain also hit Madhesh, Gandaki, Lumbini, Bagmati and Sudurpaschim provinces.

The disruption has already forced climbers off Manaslu and Dhaulagiri, with major autumn expeditions on those peaks suspended or cancelled, per Times of India. Nepal's Department of Tourism has urged trekkers and climbers nationwide to suspend activity until conditions improve, ABP Live reported. Roads have been closed in multiple districts since Friday.

Coming on the Heels of a Deadlier Disaster

This season has already been catastrophic for Nepal. Times of India reported that flooding in Rasuwa last month killed more than 1,400 people and left over 5,000 missing after the Trishuli River washed away settlements, a disaster that also hammered the country's tourism sector. The Himalayan Times' latest tally shows 162 residents in the Madhes region still missing from those Rasuwa floods, alongside 42 residents in Ramechhap still missing from a separate Bhotekoshi flood event, indicating recovery and identification work is still ongoing weeks later.

Whether permitting rules built for routine mountaineering season are adequate when back-to-back extreme weather events are hitting base camps and river valleys in the same stretch of months remains an open question for Nepal's tourism regulators and disaster response agencies. A helicopter-permit process designed for normal operations could become a bottleneck during a live rescue. Nepal's government has not announced any emergency waiver of those rules for the Himlung Himal response as of Sunday.

As of Sunday morning, the identities of the 10 missing remain unknown, along with whether any bodies or survivors have been located and how quickly the helicopter permit can be cleared given the ongoing storm. None of the sources reviewed report a confirmed death, injury, or rescue. Expedition companies and EOAN said they are still compiling information as weather conditions permit further search efforts.