KATHMANDU, May 6. /TASS/. Russia’s Centrospas rescue teams are searching for fellow nationals who have gone missing in Nepal’s Langtang National Park after a massive earthquake, the head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s rescue squad has said.
"The rescue effort to search for the Russian tourists missing in the high-mountain area of the Langtang National Park is ongoing," Alexander Romanov told TASS on Wednesday.
Over the past several days, two rescue teams have been walking the same route Dhunche-Kyanjin-Gompa (2,500-4,000 meters). One of the groups landed from a helicopter at the top of the route, while the other is heading towards it.
The search effort has yet produced no results, Romanov said.
A spokesman for Russia’s embassy in Nepal, Azret Botashev, told TASS last week that two Russian diplomats from Pakistan, Alexei Lipeye and Maria Yakovleva, had been missing.
Last time, the diplomats contacted the embassy from the Langtang National Park in the Himalayas.
The magnitude 7.9 earthquake, the strongest over the past 80 years, rocked Nepal on April 25. The earthquake was followed by around 90 aftershocks with a magnitude ranging from 3.5 to 6.9.
The quake has claimed more than 7,500 lives. Over 14,000 others have been injured. Some 191,000 houses have been ruined and another 175,000 have been damaged by the disaster, according to the latest reports.