Nepal: Eight tourists die after being found unconscious in hotel room at mountain resort

Eight tourists - including four children - have died after being found unconscious in a hotel room in Nepal.

It is believed the tourists, who were staying in the same room at a mountain resort in Daman, had used a gas heater while windows and doors were locked.

Rescue helicopters flew the eight to hospital in Kathmandu but they were declared dead, according to police official Hobindra Bogati.

He said: "They had lit a gas heater to keep the room warm and probably suffocated."

The tourists were part of a group of 15 who had travelled to Nepal from Kerala in India. The seven other tourists in the group were unharmed.

It comes as authorities continue to search for four South Korean hikers and their three guides who have been missing since an avalanche swept through a trekking route in Nepal on Friday.

The avalanche hit part of Mount Annapurna after heavy snowfall.

Other walkers have been found and flown to safer areas, according to an official from the Nepalese department of tourism.

South Korea's foreign ministry said the missing people were two women in their 30s and 50s and two men in their 50s, who were teachers, staying there for volunteer work.

Last week the mountain area was bare and grassy but within two days, snow was neck-deep and several avalanches had occurred.

Phurba Ongel Sherpa, a veteran mountain guide, said: "We had crossed the area just three hours before the big avalanche hit the area, which has a few rest stops and lodges.

"There is no way that anyone buried in that pile could have survived."