The grim search for missing hikers and bodies buried under snow continued Saturday against the dramatic backdrop of Nepal 's Himalayas , as officials confirmed that at least 39 people had died in an exceptionally heavy snowfall . Rescue crews combed the high-altitude paths and passes of the popular Annapurna region , as well as the neighboring Manang district for trekkers missing for nearly a week . Nine stranded Israeli tourists were rescued Thursday , as well as three Canadians and four Indians who were pulled to safety , according to the Trekking Agencies ' Association of Nepal . The group said it deployed helicopters to rescue hikers stranded by snow , floodwaters and avalanches unleashed along the popular Himalayan trekking trails by heavy snow Tuesday . Regional administrator Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya told CNN that 14 trekkers were now known to have died near the iconic 5,416-meter ( 17,770-foot ) Thorung La Pass in Mustang district , the highest point of the popular 21-day Annapurna Circuit trek . The bodies include those of Israelis , Nepalis and Poles , he said . Even as the total death toll climbed from the 17 reported Wednesday , Thapaliya warned that there are chances of finding more people dead or lost around the pass . A Nepal army team made it up to 16,000 feet on Thursday -- still short of the pass -- on the side of the mountain where the 14 bodies were found . 'This is the dangerous part ' Friday 's search efforts were concentrated on the other side of the pass , which falls in Manang district , `` This is the dangerous part , '' Thapaliya said . There has been no contact with the remote area even by phone , he said . One Israeli was rescued from near the pass Thursday . Three trekkers have been confirmed as missing , two of them Indian and one Japanese . The pass is not the only area to see deaths due to the unseasonably heavy snow . The bodies of another five trekkers , four Canadians and an Indian , were found in Manang district , Thapaliya said . Three Nepali farmers also were killed . Farther west , five mountaineers -- two Slovaks and three Nepalis -- lost their lives in an avalanche Tuesday night near Nepal 's seventh highest peak , Mount Dhaulagiri , officials said . Altogether , 326 people have now been rescued as of Saturday , more than half of them from Manang district , said Baburam Bhandari , chief district officer of Nepal 's Mustang district . 'Trekking is adventurous ' This is already one of the deadliest such tragedies in the history of Nepal , a nation of about 26 million known worldwide for its spectacular mountain ranges , including Mount Everest . Annapurna is far and away the most popular of its trekking areas , with some 90,000 trekking there in 2013 , according to Narendra Lama , tourism officer of Annapurna Area Conservation Project . `` There have been incidents of trekkers being killed in snowstorms , landslides and avalanches in the past but not as many as this year , '' Lama said . `` But I do not think that this disaster will have a big impact since it is a natural disaster and not about a security situation , '' he said . `` Trekking is adventurous in nature after all . '' October is the best month of the year to do the Annapurna Circuit trek , meaning more visitors than usual may have been in the area when unusually heavy snow caused by Cyclone Hudhud in eastern India came down Monday and Tuesday . Last year , about 20,000 foreign trekkers crossed the Thorung La Pass , almost 6,000 of them in October , according to Annapurna Conservation Area statistics . Many remote Nepali communities rely on foreign trekkers and mountaineers for income and employment , meaning a drop in visitors could hit local people hard . Survivor recalls how ice tumbled down in Mount Everest avalanche . The deaths come only six months after tragedy last struck Nepal , on the slopes of Mount Everest . Then , a bruising avalanche of ice swept 16 Sherpas to their deaths . After the accident , which came right before the peak season in May , many Sherpas refused to climb and at least six companies that lead Everest expeditions called off their 2014 climbs .
39 bodies have now been found , regional administrator says . Comment: Those killed include Israelis , Canadians , Poles , Slovaks and Nepalis .