Climbers above Everest base camp all safe

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - There are around 100 climbers at camps 1 and 2 on Mount Everest, above base camp, and all are safe after an earthquake set off an avalanche, the head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association said on Sunday It will be difficult to evacuate the climbers as the route back to base camp through the Khumbu icefalls is blocked, Ang Tshering Sherpa told Reuters. The avalanche that swept through parts of base camp had the combined force of two separate snowslides from different peaks, Sherpa said, and blanketed the camp in powder snow. Seventeen bodies have been recovered and 61 climbers were injured. (Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Nick Macfie)