Nepal vows new rules after worst trekking disaster

EOI, Kathmandu, 22 October 2014: Nepal has  said it will introduce new rules, improve weather forecasts and better monitor the movement of trekkers after the Himalayan country's worst hiking disaster left dozens dead last week, according to a PTI report from Kathmandu on Tuesday..

Tourism Department official Tulasi Gautam said trekkers venturing to mountain trails will be required to take trained local guides, and will have to rent a GPS tracking unit to help authorities trace them in case of an emergency.
Gautam said the government plans to announce the new rules nationwide before the next trekking season in the spring.
"The main reason for the high number of casualties is that those trekkers without proper guides were prompted to continue with their trek in attempts to beat the storm. So we plan to strictly enforce new rules of no trekking without porters or proper guides," Gautam said.
At least 43 people were killed last week when a blizzard and avalanches swept the mountains of the Annapurna region in northern Nepal.
Of those, 21 were foreign trekkers and mountaineers from countries including India, Israel, Canada, Poland, Japan, China and Slovakia. Twenty-two were Nepalese guides, porters and villagers.

The four Indians, who are among the 40 people killed in Nepal's worst trekking disaster, have been identified, says the PTI report quoting Indian Embassy officials in Kathmandu.
They have been identified as Debashish Dev, Arup Roychaudhury, Sunil Sen and Indranil Ghosh. Sen, Ghosh and Dev were from West Bengal. The native place of Roychaudhury is not known. The whereabouts of Tathagata Jana are still unknown and the embassy is continuing its efforts to trace him.