Seven Italian climbers are missing in Nepal’s Himalayan mountains after heavy snowstorms and  avalanches have killed at least nine people in recent days.

Three Italian climbers were among five foreigners and two Nepali guides who were confirmed killed on Monday when a huge avalanche smashed through a base camp near the summit of Mount Yalung Ri in Nepal’s Himalayan range, according to reports.

Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that local authorities had confirmed the deaths of the three Italian climbers, but there “remains no news of seven other Italian nationals” who have been reported missing.

“In recent days, several areas of the Nepalese Himalayas have been affected by a series of avalanches that have struck numerous mountaineers, including Italian citizens,” the ministry said.

“Communication between local authorities, rescue teams, and the diplomatic missions of the countries involved continues to be extremely challenging,” the ministry added.

Nepal’s Department of Tourism director, Himal Gautam, said there was no immediate information about the fate of the seven people reported missing.

Nepal’s Himalayan Times newspaper reported on Wednesday that the bodies of an Italian and a French climber were recovered from the site of the avalanche that struck a group of 12 people at their base camp on Mount Yalung Ri on Monday.

The seven people killed at the camp included three Italians, two Nepalis, a German and a French climber and, according to the newspaper, five others were rescued, including three Nepalis and two French nationals.

French survivor Isabelle Solange Thaon, 54, who lost her husband, Christian Manfred, in the avalanche on Yalung Ri, told The Associated Press news agency that she was lucky to have survived with another French climber, Didier Armand.

“We were lucky,” Thaon said from her hospital bed in the capital Kathmandu, adding that she had jumped over rocks and swam in the snow of the avalanche until help arrived to pull them out.

“Unfortunately, Christian died  because rocks hit his head,” she said of her late husband.

Mount Yalung Ri, located in the Rolwaling Valley of northeastern Nepal, is a 5,600-metre (18,370-foot) peak considered suitable for novice mountaineers.

On Friday, in western Nepal, contact was lost with two Italian climbers, who were later confirmed to have died while attempting to scale the 6,887-metre (22,595-foot) Panbari mountain.

Nepal was hit last week by unseasonal rains and heavy snow due to the impact of Cyclone Montha, which left many trekkers and tourists stranded on popular Himalayan trekking routes.

Nepalese authorities have issued alerts to trekkers and climbers in the country, which is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks, including Mount Everest, and which are visited by many foreign and local trekkers and climbers each year.

[Aljazeera]