Terrifying Hour in Darkness After Nepal Avalanche The mountaineers were in darkness when they heard the thunderous boom, the crush of snow. Helplessly, they slid down Mount Mansalu, the world's eighth-highest peak. It would take an hour for the sun to rise and for the survivors to see what horrors the avalanche had wrought. Pieces of tents and bodies of victims were strewn around on the snow on the Himalayan peak in Nepal. Several other people were injured, and more still were simply gone. "It was only a few seconds and we did not know what happened, but we had slid more than 200 meters (650 feet)," Italian climber Silvio Mondinelli told The Associated Press on Monday. Rescuers have brought down eight bodies - four French, one each from Germany, Italy and Spain, and a Nepali guide. Many of the 10 survivors, including Mondinelli, were injured and flown to hospitals by rescue helicopters. The number of climbers unaccounted for is unclear. Officials had said Monday that they were attempting to recover a ninth body, and that six other people remained missing, but they were more tentative about those numbers Tuesday. Police Chief Basanta Bahadur Kuwar said there was lot of confusion among the climbers and since the avalanche occurred at an elevation of 7,000 meters (22,960 feet), it was difficult for anyone but trained Sherpa guides to reach. In this picture taken Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012 and released by Alpine Ascents International, an unidentified rescuer speaks to an unidentified survivor in the debris field of an avalanche on Mount Manaslu in northern Nepal. Rescue helicopters flew over the high slopes of the northern Nepal peak again Monday to search for climbers lost in an avalanche that killed at least nine mountaineers and injured others. (AP Photo/Garrett Madison, Alpine Ascents International) Close Nepal Mountaineering Department chief Balkrishan Ghimire said Tuesday that officials had the names of only three people reported missing. The government does not have officials posted on the mountain and the nearest police station is two-day trek away from the base camp. Two French climbers were still unaccounted for as of Monday afternoon, the French Foreign Ministry said. The aerial search for the missing has ended, but officials said Sherpa guides were continuing to search the snowy slopes. The avalanche hit about 4 a.m. Sunday while more than two dozen climbers were sleeping in tents at Camp 3 on Mount Manaslu. Three French climbers and two Germans were transported to hospitals in Katmandu on Sunday. Two Italians were flown there Monday - Mondinelli, who has climbed the world's 14 highest peaks, and fellow mountaineer Christian Gobbi. Mondinelli said a third Italian climber and their Sherpa guide were sleeping in another tent and both were buried by the avalanche and died. Mondinelli and Gobbi looked out of their torn tent after the avalanche, but with no light, they saw nothing. "We found someone's boots and put them on," Gobbi said. When the sun rose, they said, they were able to assist the injured with the help of Sherpa guides who came up from lower mountain camps. The survivors who could walk made their way down to the base camp while those who more seriously injured were picked up by helicopters. The Nepal Mountaineering Department identified the eight recovered bodies as Fabrice Priez, Philippe Lucien Bos, Catherine Marie Andree Richard and Ludovic Paul Nicolas Challeat of France; German Christian Mittermeyer; Italian Alberto Magliano; Spaniard Marti Roirg Gasull; and Nepali Dawa Dorji. At least three of the victims were from the French Alps town of Chamonix, a hub for climbers on Mont Blanc and nearby peaks. An avalanche on a route to the summit of Mont Blanc in July killed nine experienced climbers.