Ten people have been confirmed dead and several have sustained serious injuries on the treacherous Khumbu icefall on Mt Everest due to the deadliest avalanche triggered by a powerful earthquake on Saturday.

It is not immediately clear how many people have been killed and injured. However, the government officials said that casualties may rise as many climbers have been reported to be trapped in the section of Camp 1 and Camp 2 when they were preparing for acclimatization. 

The base camp was tensed when hundreds of climbers started to run in and out of tents to save their lives when they suddenly saw ice and rocks falling towards the base camp, eye witnesses tweeted from Everest base camp. There were at least 1,200 climbers at the base camp including kitchen crew, porters and high-altitude guides. 

Daniel Mazur, a climber tweeted at 12:30pm from base camp: "A massive earthquake just hit Everest. Base camp has been severely damaged. Our team is caught in Camp 1. Please pray for everyone." 

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) said that all international flights were forced to divert on Saturday afternoon following the powerful earthquake. None of the international flights had landed at the country's sole international airport Tribhuvan International Airport as of 8pm on Saturday. The airport was closed for at least two hours after the earthquake rocked the country. 

"The runway and other infrastructure at the airport were not affected by the tremor," said Sanjiv Gautam, deputy director general at the Caan. He said that the airport has been opened for 24 hours to clear the passengers' backlog.  At least 8,000 travelers (in and out) of the airport have been affected when flight were unable to land.