Kathmandu, Oct 13 : At least nine climbers including five South Korean nationals have been killed in an avalanche which devastated their camp on Nepal's Mount Gurja, the expedition organiser said Saturday.

The violent snowstorm buried the climbers at the base camp at an altitude of 3,500 metres near the south face of Mount Dhaulagiri in western Nepal on Friday evening, said Wangchu Sherpa, the Managing Director at Trekking Camp Nepal.

Five South Korean climbers including team leader Kim Chang-ho along with their Nepali support staff were killed in the incident, Sherpa said. They had gone to scale the mountain from Gurja Village on October 7.

A heavy snowstorm followed by a landslide buried the base camp at an altitude of 3,500 metres when the climbers were awaiting for a fair weather to move towards higher camps, he said.

Team leader Kim was the first South Korean national to summit 14 peaks above 8,000 metres without using supplemental oxygen. However, the identities of others killed in the incident were not immediately known.

A rescue helicopter was dispatched towards the incident site Saturday morning. The mountain Mount Gurja, with a 7,193-metre peak, is in western Nepal.

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Lucknow (PTI): A 60-year-old man allegedly died on the way to a hospital in an ambulance after he could not get a ventilator at the King George Medical University where he was undergoing treatment for a heart condition.

The KGMU administration, however, claimed it tried to save the man and referred him to another facility in the absence of a ventilator.

Wazirganj Police Station SHO Dinesh Chandra Mishra said a complaint has been filed by the man's family but an FIR was yet to be lodged.

According to his family, Abrar Ahmed, a resident of an area under Dubagga Police Station, underwent angioplasty in 2018 at KGMU's Cardiology Department (Lari Cardiology).

He was admitted to KGMU's emergency centre after his condition deteriorated Sunday night.

Seeing his condition, doctors said he needed a ventilator immediately but since there was no spare unit, they referred him to another hospital.

Ahmed's son Saif alleged that doctors did not pay heed to his father's repeated requests for a ventilator.

"My father was given four injections after which he started to bleed from nose and mouth. Despite his pleadings, doctors treated him badly. He was referred to the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences and he died on the way," Saif told reporters.

KGMU spokesperson Sudhir Singh said Ahmed was diagnosed with a coronary artery disease in 2018, but he skipped checkups.

"The patient underwent angioplasty. After angioplasty, the doctor called him for checkup from time to time, but the patient did not come to the OPD for follow-up after that," the hospital said in a statement.

"When his health deteriorated, the patient was brought to the emergency room in a serious condition of heart failure. Where the doctors immediately admitted him and put him on oxygen support and necessary tests were done," it said.

The patient had difficulty breathing, but "unfortunately, all the ICU-ventilator beds of Lari Cardiology were full."

"He was put on oxygen support and was immediately advised to be taken to Sanjay Gandhi PGI and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences. A reference letter was also given. An ambulance was also provided from KGMU to take the patient to another institution. Unfortunately, despite all efforts, the patient could not be saved," the statement said.