By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Nov. 15: A big avalanche has hit Kowang and Nyaurikot villages in Mustang district on Sunday, injuring 11 persons including three school students.
Assistant Chief District Officer Ram Chandra Dhakal, talking to The Rising Nepal, said that the avalanche crashed from Mt. Manapathi peak at 11:40 am in Thasang Rural Municipality-3 of the district.
According to Dhakal, no casualties have been reported so far in the avalanche. However, eight locals of Nyaurikot village including three students of Jana Adarsha Amar Secondary School, were injured while fleeing after the avalanche. Most of the injured have broken their legs, he said.

The injured have been receiving medical treatment in Jomsom-based hospital, said assistant CDO Dhakal. Of them, some had been discharged from the hospital after receiving minor treatment. "There were no immediate reports of severe damage of property," he said.
"The avalanche fell with a lot of mud and debris," he said. "Over one dozen security personnel from Armed Police Force, Nepali Army and Nepal Police have reached the site after the incident," Assistant CDO Dhakal said.

The incident site lies at a distance of 19 kilometres from Jomsom, headquarters of Mustang district.
A team including CDO Sharma has visited the avalanche site immediately after the incident. “The muddy water from the avalanche flowed down the local Bokshi River,” said Dhakal.

The avalanche has hit Yangdel Kharka, a yak pasture at Kowang in Thasang Rural Municipality-3 of the district. The avalanche is estimated to have caused damage to local livestock grazing areas. The panicked locals informed the police administration about the incident, Dhakal said. Assistant CDO Dhakal said that there is no further danger from the avalanche in its immediate aftermath.
"Following the incident, we have safely evacuated the locals residing at Nyaurikot,” Dhakal said.

Locals have said that they have not seen such a huge avalanche in the village in the past three decades. This avalanche is unseasonal and seemed unnatural, Assistant CDO Dhakal quoted the local people as saying after the site visit Sunday afternoon.