Tourists stranded in Lukla yet again

KATHMANDU, Jan 24: Over 150 trekkers have been stranded in Lukla for the past four days with flights grounded due to poor weather.

This is the second time in two months that tourists have been stranded there. Trekkers from China, England, New Zealand, and Australia, among other nations, are currently stranded in Lukla.

“Regular flights did not operate to and fro Lukla for the past four days due to poor weather condition,” said Baburam Bhandari, chief of the Mountaineering Division. “But effort is underway to airlift those stranded by choppers to Kathmandu,” he said. Bhandari said the stranded tourists are all trekkers as this is not a climbing season.

The Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD) in Kathmandu said visibility around the Mt. Everest region has been poor in the past one week. “Apart from several pockets in eastern Nepal, even Kathmandu and several areas in the tarai have faced flight delays in the past four days,” said Rajendra Shrestha, a senior meteorologist.

“Visibility in Lukla should improve in the next two days,” he added.

In November, at least 1,000 tourists were stranded in the village for a week, forcing many to trek through Jiri and others to pay hefty fares to companies operating choppers during the brief periods when weather conditions were favorable. But in the third week of the month, MI-17 choppers owned by Simrik Air and Shree Air abandoned their regular routes and operated flights between Lukla and Kathmandu to rescue the tourists.

Bhandari, of the Mountaineering Division, downplayed the problem saying the incidents of a few hundred tourists being stranded in Lukla due to inclement weather is not an emergency situation.

Under normal weather, more than 50 flights operate along the Kathmandu-Lukla route every day. The Lukla airstrip, also called the Tenzing-Hillary airstrip, is located at an altitude of 2,800 meters and is considered one of the riskiest in the world owing steepness and unpredictable weather.

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