Flight cancellations leave more than 1,500 tourists stranded near Mount Everest

Flight cancellations leave more than 1,500 tourists stranded near Mount Everest

2011-11-04 18:51:50 GMT+7 (ICT)

LUKLA, NEPAL (BNO NEWS) -- More than 1,500 tourists are stranded at a small airport in eastern Nepal after more than 100 flights were canceled this week due to bad weather, local media reported on Friday. A sick woman has also died after she could not be airlifted.

The problems began on Tuesday when heavy fog forced airport officials to close down Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, a small town in the Khumbu region of eastern Nepal where most people visiting Mount Everest start and end their journey. It is located about 2,860 meters (9,380 feet) high.

"Visibility is zero, and we don't know when the weather conditions will improve," Utsavraj Kharel, Chief at Lukla's Civil Aviation Office, told the Himalayan Times newspaper. The airport, which is also known as Lukla Airport, normally sees more than 60 flights a day during the peak tourism season.

More than 1,500 tourists were stranded at the airport as of late Thursday evening, and this number was expected to reach more than 2,000 on Friday. Among the tourists are many foreigners, including from countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Local resident Toya Shrestha told the newspaper that this is the first time that so many tourists have been stranded in Lukla. He said hotels and shops in the small town were quickly running out of meat and vegetables, although he said there is still a large supply of rice.

One hotel owner said he had 80 guests including 67 foreigners, as of Thursday. "But they are stranded here, and we have bookings for those returning from the Everest region. I don't know how we are going to manage," he told the Himalayan Times.

In western Nepal, meanwhile, a sick 45-year-old woman died while waiting to be airlifted from an airport in Bajura District in the country's Seti Zone. She had been waiting for three days for a flight to Nepalgunj where she could be treated but died at the airport on Thursday. The airline said it was unable to fly because of the bad weather conditions.

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