Five bodies recovered from the base camp of Mt Yalung Ri in the Rolwaling range have been brought down, nearly nine months after the climbers went missing in an avalanche.

The bodies were spotted by locals on Thursday in an area where snow had melted, prompting authorities to send a police team by helicopter the following day. Bad weather, however, prevented the team from recovering the remains.

All five bodies recovered from Yalung Ri have been identified, said Police Inspector Santosh Kumar Khadka, information officer at the District Police Office in Dolakha.

Weather conditions improved on Sunday morning, allowing rescue teams to make seven attempts to retrieve the bodies from the mountain. The operation was carried out in extremely hazardous conditions. After the recovery, worsening weather forced the team to transport the bodies only as far as Na village in the Rolwaling area.

The bodies were flown from Na to Kathmandu by helicopter on Monday after weather conditions improved, Khadka said.

All five were among seven people who had gone missing during an avalanche while attempting to climb Yalung Ri on November 3 last year.

Fifteen people were caught in the avalanche near the mountain’s base camp. Eight were rescued alive, although injured. Of the remaining seven, the bodies of two climbers from Italy and France were recovered at the time.

Two Nepali guides and three foreign climbers remained missing until the latest recovery.

The five bodies recovered on Sunday have been identified as Nepali mountain guides Padam Tamang of Gaurishankar Rural Municipality-9 in Dolakha and Mer Karki of Mapya Dudhkoshi Rural Municipality-5 in Solukhumbu.

The three foreign climbers were identified as Canadian Marco Di Marcello, Italian Markus Kerchler and German Jakob Schreiber, Khadka said.

The bodies of the three foreign climbers and one of the Nepali guides will be taken to Kathmandu and handed over to their families after the necessary procedures. Tamang’s body will be taken to Charikot for a post-mortem examination before being handed over to his family, police said.