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    UPDATE: Search Ends for Missing Hikers in Nepal, Death Toll Surpasses 40

    More than 100 trekkers were caught in the storms on the Thorong La pass, the route that circles Mount Annapurna in the Himalayas.

    Nepalese officials called off rescue operations yesterday after six days of searching for missing hikers. Severe snowstorms, caused by a cyclone off the Indian coast, trapped hundreds last week near the Annapurna trekking path when they hit the area suddenly.

    Since original reports, the death toll has climbed to 43, with 35 of the identified deceased trekkers coming from a variety of countries including Canada, India, Israel, Slovakia, Poland, and Japan. Rescuers said they were able to find and rescue 407 other hikers, 226 of whom were not from Nepal.

    “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,” Yadav Koirala of Nepal’s Disaster Management Division told the Associated Press in an announcement. Keshav Pandey of the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal also commented, “After this we can only hope that those who are missing will establish contact with us or their families.”

    But even after searching stopped, two more bodies were found by a small group of soldiers who had remained in the area. Nepal plans to implement new hiking rules in order to prevent similar disasters in the future.

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