Five bodies have been spotted high on a mountain in the Indian Himalayas during an aerial search for eight climbers feared swept away in an avalanche last week, officials have said.
The climbers - four from Britain, two from the United States, and one each from Australia and India - were reported missing by colleagues on Friday after they failed to return to their base camp near Nanda Devi, India's second highest mountain.
An air force helicopter spotted the five bodies on a flight over the area where they went missing, said Vijay Kumar Jogdande, the top government official in the nearby Pithoragarh district.
"Four bodies can be seen together and a fifth slightly away from the others," he said.
The search mission was now working on the assumption that all eight climbers had been killed, he said.
"We are trying to retrieve the bodies. We believe the other three will be nearby," he said.
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The climbers was attempting to climb an unnamed, previously unclimbed 6,477m peak near Nanda Devi when their route was hit by a "sizeable avalanche", said the company that organised the expedition, Moran Mountain.
Mr Jogdande, said the bodies were above 5,000m and the possibility of a second avalanche would make accessing the site difficult.
It had not been decided whether a team would go in by air or on foot, he said.
"We're considering both alternatives. Since the bodies are at high altitude it is inaccessible, it is still unstable terrain that could lead to a secondary avalanche. We're working out a plan."
"It has always been a dangerous place to go. Mount Everest is easier to climb," he said.
A team would take at least a week to reach the area, said Sanjay Gunjiyal, a senior police official involved in the mission.
Four climbers in the group had turned back and later raised the alarm about their missing colleagues.
It has been one of the deadliest climbing seasons in the Himalayas for several years.
More than 20 people, including two Irish men, have been killed in the mountains, including 11 on Mount Everest, the world's highest peak that has been plagued by poor weather, inexperienced climbers and overcrowding.
Nanda Devi, at 7,816 metres (25,643 feet), and its sister mountain, Nanda Devi East, are among the world's most challenging peaks and only a handful of people have climbed them.
