KATHMANDU, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Around 300 tourists, mostly foreigners, have been stranded at Tenzing Hillary Airport in Lukla of Nepal's Solukhumbu district, which lies close to Mt. Qomolangma, because of bad weather, an airport official said on Tuesday.
Imanath Adhikari, chief of the Lukla office of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, told Xinhua that no flight has taken place since Saturday due to prolonged bad weather conditions, leaving around 300 people stranded at the airport.
"Even on Friday, only five flights out of planned 25 flights took place," he said. The airport had planned around 30 flights each day from Saturday to Tuesday.
Amid the delay, about a dozen helicopters were deployed to transport the stranded tourists to Kathmandu from Lukla on Tuesday.
"As many as 10 helicopters transported over 50 tourists to Kathmandu from Lukla. There are still 300 people staying here," Adhikari said. The region around Mt. Qomolangma is popular for both trekking and mountaineering.
The weather condition around Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu also turned unfavorable for landing for one and half hours on Tuesday afternoon.
"As a result, eight helicopters carrying tourists from Lukla landed in various locations around Kathmandu where the landing was possible," said Pratap Babu Tiwari, spokesperson at Tribhuvan International Airport.
