Small planes and army helicopters on Sunday began rescuing tourists stranded since Tuesday in the town of Lukla in northeastern Nepal due to bad weather.

Planes from Tara Airlines, Fishtail Airlines and Simrik Air as well as helicopters of the Nepal Army were flying the tourists from the Tenzing-Hillary Airport to the capital Kathmandu. Hundreds of other tourists started the four-day trek to the nearby Jiri town to take the bus to Kathmandu.

The stranding of the climbers, guides and porters to Mount Everest have caused a food shortage in Lukla located at an altitude of 2,860 metres, Planes could not fly to the airport due to low visibility caused by heavy fog and clouds.

The Ministry for Tourism and Civil Aviation had asked the Nepal Army to bring in helicopters but these were forced to turn back due to poor visibility.

Lukla is the starting point for climbing Mount Everest, the world's highest peak. The town has many supply shops and tourist lodges.
Last year, bad weather also stranded tourists in the town for 15 days causing severe food shortage.