KATHMANDU: A large number of mountaineers in the Everest region have been stranded due to snowfall and inclement weather, which is being attributed to the disturbing trend of climate change.

A majority of them is stuck at the Everest base camp, which is located at 5,365 meters. Heavy snowfall started in the region from May 22.

"More than 300 people, who were on their way to Lukla, were affected by the snowfall in the Everest region," said Nishant Shrestha, field officer of Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee at Namche bazaar in Solukhumbu.

Arun Pokharel, a senior officer of the Mountaineering Department, which comes under the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, echoed Shrestha.

"Mountaineers failed to proceed to their destinations due to inclement weather in the upper reaches of the Everest region, including the base camp," he said.

Satish Neupane, general manager, Himalaya Expeditions (HimEx), said it was an unusual phenomenon. "The upper reaches of the Himalayas haven't experienced such heavy snowfall all through this season," he said.

Keshav Das Shrestha, senior divisional meteorologist at Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD), which comes under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, attributed that the freak snowfall to climate change. "None of the airlines operated flights to Lukla today due to bad weather. Other flights to the Everest region were also cancelled. More than 100 people are waiting in Lukla to catch flights back to the capital," said an official at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

According to Pokharel, there were unconfirmed reports from the Kanchenjunga area in eastern Nepal that a group of Spaniards were stranded at the base camp due to heavy snowfall "A group of 60, including 45 foreigners, is stuck at Gorak Shep - located at 5,148 metres - due to bad weather. The group is heading towards the Everest base camp for the Seventh Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon, which is slated to be held on May 29," said Neupane, the organiser of the annual adventure event.

While, officials at Asian Trekking maintained that they failed to contact the mountaineers due to lack of telephone network in high altitude.

Altogether, 156 climbers have conquered the Mt Everest this season.