Remains of French climbers found

Mountain guide Stefan Cieslar, one of the missing men

A search team has found the remains of two of the four French climbers who went missing in Nepal last October.

The French climbers were attempting to scale the 19,340-foot (5896-metre)-high Mount Paldor, a trekking peak about 80km (50 miles) north of Kathmandu.

A search operation was called off last year after the French government said conditions were too dangerous to continue looking for the man.

Rescuers said the men, from Grenoble town, were hit by an avalanche.

Mountaineering officials in Nepal said a joint Nepal-France search team, sent by the families of the dead men, found the remains at the bottom of the Ganesh Himal - a mountain on the border of Nepal and Tibet.

Experienced climbers

"Melting snow revealed their remains at the bottom of the mountain," president of the Nepali Mountaineering Association Ang Tsering Sherpa, told the BBC.

"Hopefully we will find the others too," he said.

Mr Tsering said only one of the bodies has been identified.

He said the remains were buried in a grave close to where they were found.

Jean-Baptiste Moreau, Raphael Perrissin, Vincent Villedieu and Stefan Cieslar were all described as experienced climbers.

After their disappearance, six special Alpine troops were sent to help look for them.

The search was called off by France after a powerful avalanche and bad weather hampered rescue efforts.