An avalanche swept away climbers and their camps on the world's eighth highest mountain in northwestern Nepal on Sunday, killing at least nine people.
Most of the dead climbers were French and that others were from Italy, Germany and Spain, former president of Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tshering Sherpa, said
A French news channel reported that four of those killed on Mount Manaslu were French, citing a mountain climber.
Nepalese officials confirmed earlier that the dead included climbers from Nepal, Germany and Spain, and they said four people were missing.
Five injured climbers were rescued by helicopters and flown to the capital Kathmandu.
German climber Andreas Reitero, 26, said he was sleeping in his tent when the avalanche struck at about 4am local time. His camp was about 7,000 metres above sea level.
"It was a big sound. I was afraid," the climber said from hospital in Kathmandu after being rescued by a helicopter from the mountain.
"I was so confused that I can't say how far I was swept away or how many people were there in the camp at the time of avalanche," said the climber, who is being treated for a back injury. "I had luck. I did not go far enough and was (left) outside ...not buried under snow." He was one in a group of 13 climbers - 11 Germans and two Austrians. One German member of the group died, he said.
A French Foreign Ministry spokesman would not confirm any deaths but said "at least three" French climbers were injured.
Police Inspector Basant Mishra said the bodies of a German climber and a Nepali guide were recovered from the snow on the 8,163-metre (26,781-foot) mountain.
"Rescue pilots have spotted seven other bodies on the mountain," he said.
Sources at the Spanish Foreign Ministry said one of the dead climbers was Spanish, without giving further details.
The accident took place at 7,000 metres (22,950 feet), making it difficult for land rescue teams to reach the scene.
Helicopters were dispatched to the remote area to look for those missing after the early morning accident, but cloud and fog were complicating rescue efforts.
Reuters