The two Uzbeks - Tcyaspuks Vatullin and Ivan Lobanov went missing after they were buried under the snow by an avalanche while climbing Annapura I. They were part of a 13 member Russian Annapurna Expedition 2012 team. [break]
"They have not been found till Saturday evening despite rescue and search operations," said Deputy Superintendent of Police at Myagdi, Mukunda Marasini. "However, 11 team members managed to save themselves from the avalanche."
Police said that the avalanche had swept away the two while they were heading back to the 2nd base camp after reaching 3rd base camp on Thursday.
A team of 11 policemen was been deployed for the search operation. “Rescue team has been conducting search operation along with other climbers in the base camp. It is difficult to find the two missing climbers because they were budied in deep snow," Marasini further said. “Even helicopters were used in the search, but it was not that effective as the place was steep and hard to access,” Marasini said.
Five climbers die, three missing on Everest this season