KATHMANDU • Nine members of a South Korean climbing expedition were killed after a violent snowstorm swept them off a cliff on Nepal's Mount Gurja, one of the deadliest mountaineering accidents to hit the Himalayan nation in recent years.

The bodies of eight climbers - four South Koreans and four Nepali guides - were spotted near the wreckage of their camp by a rescue team yesterday morning, but strong winds were hampering the search effort.

A fifth South Korean climber was initially reported missing, but officials have now confirmed that he was at the camp when the deadly storm hit last Friday and is believed to have also perished.

"A mountain expedition of five South Korean nationals and four foreigners were swept off by strong winds at the base camp during their climb to Mount Gurja. (They) fell off a cliff and died," the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Helicopter pilot Siddartha Gurung was among the first people to reach the site after the deadly storm and described a scene of total destruction.

He said all the tents had been flattened, reduced to a tangled mess of tarpaulin and broken poles, and the climbers' bodies were scattered across a wide area, including some in a river bed some 500m away from the main camp.

"Everything is gone, all the tents are blown apart," Mr Gurung told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Mr Gurung landed a helicopter just above the expedition team's camp and attempted to descend to the campsite with a group of local villagers, but icy and unstable conditions meant they were unable to retrieve any of the bodies.

Rescue officials tried to send a second helicopter to the site yesterday afternoon, but it was unable to fly owing to strong winds, police spokesman Sailesh Thapa told AFP.

Another attempt will be made today, he added.

The storm is the deadliest incident to hit Nepal's mountaineering industry since 18 people were killed at Mount Everest's base camp in 2015 in an avalanche triggered by a powerful earthquake.

The previous year, 16 Sherpas were killed on Everest when an avalanche swept through the Khumbu Icefall.

Trekking Camp Nepal managing director Wangchu Sherpa, who organised the Mount Gurja expedition, said the alarm was raised after the South Korean team was not heard from for nearly 24 hours.

"After they (the climbers) were out of contact since yesterday, we sent people from the village and a helicopter to search for them," he said. The team had been camped at the foot of the 7,193m Mount Gurja since early this month, waiting for a window of good weather so they could attempt to reach the summit.

Among the dead was feted South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho, who led the expedition, according to a government-issued climbing permit. In 2013, he became the fastest person to summit the world's 14 highest mountains without using supplemental oxygen.

The permit listed four South Korean climbers, but a fifth member joined the team later, according to Mr Suresh Dakal of Trekking Camp Nepal.

A sixth South Korean national was staying in a village in the valley below the mountain when the powerful storm struck and survived, according to a local police report.

Rarely climbed Gurja lies in Nepal's Annapurna region, next to avalanche-prone Dhaulagiri - the world's seventh-highest mountain.

Gurja was first summited in 1969 by a Japanese team, but no one has stood on its summit for 22 years, according to the Himalayan Database.

A total of 30 people have successfully reached its peak - a fraction of the more than 8,000 people who have summited Everest, the world's highest mountain.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE