This photo provided by Azim Afif shows nightfall after an avalanche triggered by a massive earthquake swept across Everest Base Camp, Nepal on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Afif and his team of four others... (Associated Press) 
 
 KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An avalanche triggered by a massive earthquake swept across Nepal's Mount Everest region on Saturday, killing at least 10 climbers and guides, slamming into a section of the mountaineering base camp, and leaving an unknown number of people injured and missing, officials said. 
 
 Numerous climbers may now be cut off on routes leading to the top of the world's highest peak. 
 
 The avalanche began on Mount Kumori, a 7,000-meter (22,966-foot) -high mountain just a few miles from Everest, gathering strength as it headed toward the base camp where climbing expeditions have been preparing to make their summit attempts in the coming weeks, said Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. 
 
 The avalanche — or perhaps a series of avalanches hidden in a massive white cloud — plowed into a part of base camp, a sprawling seasonal village of climbers, guides and porters, flattening at least 30 tents, Tshering said. With communication very limited at Everest, it was not immediately clear how many of those injured and killed were at base camp, and how many were elsewhere on the mountain. 
 
 Survivors reached over Internet messaging services, however, described a scene of terror as the snow and ice roared through the nearby Khumbu Icefall and into base camp. 
 
 Azim Afif, the 27-year-old leader of a climbing team from University of Technology Malaysia, said in an interview on the service WhatsApp that his group was in a meal tent waiting for lunch when suddenly the table and everything around them began shaking. 
 
 When they ran outside, they saw "a wall of ice coming towards us," and heard the cries of Sherpa guides shouting for people to run for their lives, he wrote. "We just think to find a place to hide and save our life." 
 
 The small team planned to sleep together Saturday night in one large tent "to make sure if anything happen, we are together," Afif said. 
 
 Quickly, though, climbing teams scattered across base camp began to work together to search for survivors. 
 
 Gordon Janow, the director of programs for the Washington-based guiding outfit Alpine Ascents International, said from Seattle that his team had come through the avalanche unscathed. Their first goal was to deal with the devastation at base camp, he said, and they would then try to create new routes to help climbers stuck above the treacherous Khumbu Icefall. The icefall, which is just above base camp, is a key route up the lower part of Everest. 
 
 "Everybody's pretty much in rescue mode, but this is different from some independent climbing accident where people can be rescued and taken somewhere else," Janow said. "I don't know where somewhere else is." 
 
 While helicopters would normally be used to pluck stranded climbers, it was unclear whether any would be available for Everest, given the devastation in and around Kathmandu. By late Saturday night, authorities said more than 1,100 people had been confirmed dead. 
 
 An official with Nepal's mountaineering department, Gyanendra Shrestha, said the bodies of 10 people had been recovered and an unknown number remained missing or injured. Their nationalities were unclear as climbers described chaotic attempts to treat the injured amid fears of more landslides and aftershocks that continue to rattle the region. Chinese media reported that a Chinese climber and two Sherpa guides were among the dead. 
 
 Hundreds of climbers — ranging from some of the world's most experienced mountaineers to relative novices on high-priced, well-guided trips — make summit attempts on Everest every year. At times, when the weather is agreeable, dozens of people can reach the summit in a single day. But high winds, brutal cold, difficult terrain and massive avalanches can hit the mountain with little or no notice. Hundreds of people have died on the mountain over the years. 
 
 Reports in China said an amateur team encountered an avalanche on the north slope of the mountain at an elevation of more than 7,000 meters (22,965 feet) and safely retreated to a lower camp. 
 
 The magnitude-7.8 quake struck at around noon Saturday about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, just over a year after the deadliest avalanche on record hit Everest, killing 16 Sherpa guides on April 18, 2014. 
 
 The 2014 deaths occurred at the Icefall, where the edge of the slow-moving glacier is known to crack, cave and send huge chunks of ice tumbling without warning. 
 
 More than 4,000 climbers have scaled the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit since 1953, when it was first conquered by New Zealand climber Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. The numbers have skyrocketed in recent years, with more than 800 climbers during the 2013 spring season. 
 
 Following the 2014 disaster, guides accused Nepal's government of not doing enough for them despite making millions in permit fees from Western mountaineers who attempt to scale the Himalayan peaks. The guides protested by refusing to work on the mountain, leading to the cancellation of last year's climbing season. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Sullivan reported from New Delhi. Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle, Didi Tang in Beijing and Karly Domb Sadof in Berlin contributed to this report. ||||| KATHMANDU An Indian army mountaineering team found 18 bodies on Mount Everest on Saturday, an army spokesman said, after a massive earthquake in Nepal unleashed an avalanche on the world's tallest mountain at the start of the main climbing season. 
 
 Nepal's Tourism Ministry could only confirm 10 deaths, but spokesman Gyanendra Shrestha said the death toll could rise, and that the avalanche had buried part of the base camp. He said two tents at the camp had been filled with the injured. 
 
 One of those killed was Dan Fredinburg, a Google engineer based in California. He died as a result of head injuries when the avalanche hit, according to a statement from the mountaineering company that had taken him to base camp."We pray too for all those who have lost their lives in one of the greatest tragedies ever to hit this Himalayan nation," Jagged Globe said.Tourism ministry officials estimated that at least 1,000 climbers, including about 400 foreigners, had been at base camp or on Everest when the earthquake struck. 
 
 April is one of the most popular times to scale the 8,850-metre (29,035 foot) peak before rain and clouds cloak it at the end of May. Almost exactly a year ago, an avalanche killed 16 Nepali guides in what was the single deadliest day on the mountain. 
 
 Saturday's 7.9-magnitude quake was the strongest to hit Nepal for 81 years. It also shook neighboring India, China and Bangladesh. Early on Sunday, the official death toll stood at more than 1,300 people in Nepal.Romanian climber Alex Gavan made a desperate appeal for a helicopter to fly in and evacuate climbers: "Many dead. Much more badly injured. More to die if not heli asap." 
 
 Carsten Lillelund Pedersen, a Danish climber, said about 40 people were being treated in a makeshift hospital at a tent at base camp. He said many of those injured had back injuries from being hit by rocks and ice when running from the avalanche.The poor visibility after the first avalanche meant it was "difficult to see the following avalanches, and there are so many - maybe one every 5 min. - that I have stopped counting", Pedersen said on Facebook. 
 
 Mohan Krishna Sapkota, joint secretary in the Nepalese tourism ministry, said the government was struggling to assess the damage on Everest because of poor phone coverage."The trekkers are scattered all around the base camp and some had even trekked further up," Sapkota said. "It is almost impossible to get in touch with anyone." 
 
 Choti Sherpa, who works at the Everest Summiteers Association, said she had been unable to call her family and colleagues on the mountain. "Everyone is trying to contact each other, but we can’t," she said. "We are all very worried." 
 
 Last year's tragedy prompted the Sherpa guides to complain that their safety was being neglected, but there were no immediate recriminations on Saturday. 
 
 "This will definitely have some impact on climbing activity, but this is a natural disaster. No one can do anything," said Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. At the Annapurna mountain range, where scores were killed in the nation's worst trekking accident last year, many hikers were stranded after the earthquake, according to messages on social media, but no fatalities had been reported. 
 
 Stan Adhikari, who runs the Mountain House lodge in Pokhara near the mountain range, said the city had escaped the worst of the damage. "There hasn't been much damage," Adhikari said. 
 
 He said there were about two dozen guests at his lodge, including people from Europe, the United States and China. The road from Pokhara to Kathmandu was not passable but he hoped it would open on Sunday. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill and Rupam Jain Nair; Writing by Andrew MacAskill and Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Mark Bendeich) ||||| CLOSE A powerful earthquake struck Nepal Saturday, killing at least 1,180 people and triggering a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest. It was the worst quake to hit Nepal in decades. (April 25) AP 
 
 In this photo provided by Azim Afif, shows a man approaching the scene after an avalanche triggered by a massive earthquake swept across Everest Base Camp, Nepal. (Photo: Azim Afif, AP) 
 
 A powerful magnitude-7.8 earthquake in Nepal sparked a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest on Saturday, killing at least 17 people on the mountain. At least 30 were injured. 
 
 Among the dead was Google engineer Dan Fredinburg. It was not immediately clear how many of the deaths were located at the base camp, where at least 30 tents were flattened when the avalanche plowed into part of the camp. The exact number of injured or missing was also unknown. 
 
 Base camp is where journalists, climbers and their families gather and get news to the world about developments at Everest, the world's highest mountain above sea level. 
 
 The disaster comes a little more than a year after another Everest avalanche killed 16 Sherpa guides, the highest death toll ever for an avalanche on the mountain. The guides protested the government's lack of protection for them by refusing to work, canceling the climbing season. 
 
 Hundreds of climbers make summit attempts on Everest each year. In 2013, 800 climbers reached the summit. 
 
 Carsten Lillelund Pedersen, a Dane who was climbing the Everest with a Belgian, Jelle Veyt, said on his Facebook page that they were at Khumbu Icefall, a rugged area of collapsed ice and snow close to base camp at 16,500 feet, when the earthquake hit. 
 
 He wrote on his Facebook page about one person with the most severe injuries who sustained many fractures. 
 
 "He was blown away by the avalanche and broke both legs. For the camps closer to where the avalanche hit, our Sherpas believe that a lot of people may have been buried in their tents," he wrote in English. "There is now a steady flow of people fleeing basecamp in hope of more security further down the mountain" 
 
 Veyt said on his Facebook page that he "ran for my life," and was fine. 
 
 At least one team of climbers on Everest appears to be safe after a few hours of anguish in which the expedition leader asked for prayers on social media in the wake of the massive quake that killed more than 1,400. 
 
 After some hours of silence and pleas from followers to post about the group's welfare, expedition leader Dan Mazur finally posted on Facebook at about 8 a.m. ET, "We felt the earthquake on the north side but have no damage and all are safe." 
 
 Mazur, a team leader for the groups Summit Climb and Summit Trek, based in England and Washington state, was leading a team of 10 up Everest. They were at Camp 1, about 3,000 feet above the base camp, when the quake hit. 
 
 The latest post ended what appeared to be a night of worry for the group's followers on social media as well as a woman identifying herself as Mazur's sister, who repeatedly asked if he was OK. 
 
 Earlier Saturday, Mazur was sending out messages via social media asking for prayers and saying damage from the earthquake on Everest was extensive. Mazur is best known for leading a 1993 expedition portrayed in the book Three Cups of Tea as well as the rescue of an Australian climber in 2006. 
 
 At about 4:30 a.m. ET, Mazur tweeted: "A massive earthquake just hit Everest. Basecamp has been severely damaged. Our team is caught in Camp 1. Please pray for everyone." 
 
 Camp 1, according to the MountEverest.net website, is a "vast, flat area of endless snow, deep crevasses and mountain walls frequently washed by avalanches." It is here that climbers catch their first glimpse of Everest, according to the site. Whiteout and crevasses are a frequent challenge. 
 
 At about 5:30 a.m., Mazur tweeted: "Aftershock! Everest team is in camp 1, hanging on. Icefall route destroyed." 
 
 Mazur, 54, is a native of Illinois and divides his time between Bristol, England, and Olympia, Wash. 
 
 Contributing: Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY; The Associated Press 
 
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– Amid the sea of casualties in today's quake in Nepal are at least 10 that are garnering headlines of their own because of where tragedy befell them: on Everest. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit Nepal in more than eight decades, triggered a deadly avalanche in the Mount Everest region. NBC News reports the country's Tourism Ministry has thus far confirmed that 10 are dead, but the toll could very well rise. Indeed, USA Today reports an unknown number of people are missing, and the AP says some climbers may be cut off on routes leading to the summit. As for the scene at base camp, USA Today points to this from Danish climber Carsten Lillelund Pedersen: "Our Sherpas believe that a lot of people may have been buried in their tents." The AP spoke with Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association; he says at least 30 tents were flattened at base camp. Reuters quotes ministry officials as saying at least 1,000 people, about 40% of them foreigners, were on the mountain when the quake hit. The confirmed deaths establish today as at least the second deadliest day on the mountain. Exactly 51 weeks ago, 16 sherpas died on Everest, doubling the toll experienced in the previous worst day, the 1996 incident captured in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. The AP reports today's avalanche began on Mount Kumori, a 22,966-foot-high mountain just a few miles from Everest, and grew stronger as it barreled toward the base camp.