Searches for lost trekkers in Nepal were called off today despite confusion over whether any Britons were still unaccounted for.
The Nepalese authorities said they believed that everyone on routes that were hit by a series of blizzards and avalanches last week, killing at least 39 people, was now safe.
But poor reception has hampered communications, and up to 40 Britons are believed to have still not made contact with family members or the authorities, tourism officials said.
The Foreign Office is urging anyone in the affected area to get in touch. It stressed that it had no record of any British casualties and said it was working with the authorities in Nepal to account for every Briton there.
Its updated travel advice today read: “To British nationals who have been travelling in the affected areas: you are encouraged to get in touch with relatives by telephone or social media.
“Please also contact the British Embassy consular section in Kathmandu to confirm your whereabouts.If you cannot phone internationally we can pass your message to concerned relatives.”
Hikers from Canada, India, Israel, Slovakia, Poland and Japan died in the tragedy last week, along with nine Nepalese porters, as bad weather battered the Annapurna trekking circuit.
Yadav Koirala of Nepal’s disaster management division said today: “We believe that all the trekkers and guides have been helped and as far as we know there are no more people stranded on the route.”
But Narendra Lama, an official with the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, said there were “between 30 and 40 missing” from the UK who were in the area at the time.
They are believed to include Londoner Robert Talbot, whose name appeared on a Facebook page set up by relatives trying to get information about missing loved ones.
So far, 34 bodies have been identified. Most have been flown to nearby towns or Katmandu. More than 400 people have been rescued in the past week from the Annapurna mountain range.
