More than 500 foreign hikers rescued after deadly landslide in Nepal

Gopal Sharma in Reuters: More than 500 foreign tourists and their guides have been rescued after a deadly landslide in Nepal blocked a major highway, leaving them stranded in a border town over the weekend, Nepali hiking officials said on Monday.

The mostly Indian and European tourists were returning to Kathmandu after hiking expeditions in Tibet when heavy rains triggered the landslide, blocking the Arniko highway to the capital and forcing them to take refuge in Tatopani town on the Nepal-Tibet border.

Officials said more than 400 hikers and their guides were picked up by helicopters and brought to Kathmandu on Sunday and another 200 people were evacuated on Monday.

"The trekkers were worried and confused. But now they are very much relieved and comfortable," Airlines Operators Association official Yog Raj Kandel told Reuters. This is peak trekking season in Tibet, with thousands of tourists annually visiting the Himalayan region from Nepal....

A landslide area in Nepal, a shot from 2010 by Moralist, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license