Bodies of two Russian tourists found in quake-hit Nepal

The bodies of two Russian tourists who went missing in a high mountain area during the April 25 earthquake in Nepal have been found and identified, Russian Ambassador to Nepal Sergei Velichkin told TASS news agency on Thursday.

"Two unidentified bodies, supposedly of Europeans, were brought at noon today to a medical facility in the city of Kathmandu from the Langtang village that was the worst hit by earthquake," said the ambassador.

According to him, specialists of the Russian embassy in Nepal, as well as medics of the Russian emergencies ministry's inter-service team have identified them as the bodies of the missing Russian tourists.

The search was conducted by several teams of Russian rescuers in the high mountain zone of the Langtang National Park from the first days of the Nepal quake emergency response efforts.

A devastating 7.9-magnitude earthquake, the strongest one in the past 80 years, rocked Nepal on Saturday, April 25. The earthquake was followed by a series of aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 3.2 to 6.9.

According to the latest reports, the earthquake has claimed around 8,000 lives.