4 sections of trekking route to Mount Everest were damaged by earthquake, assessment finds

KATHMANDU, Nepal – An assessment commissioned by Nepal's government has found four sections on the trekking route to Mount Everest were damaged by the devastating earthquake in April.

Engineering firm Miyamoto International says 17 percent of the accommodations on the route were damaged.

The route from Lukla airport to Everest base camp takes about a week of hiking. It gets about 40,000 Western trekkers every year.

Nepalese officials said the damages would be repaired soon after the end of monsoon rainfall and before visitors arrive for the autumn tourist season.

Trekking and mountaineering operators criticized the firm's earlier assessment of Mount Annapurna trekking routes as being done in haste and without consultations. But the government accepted the assessment.

The earthquake in April killed some 8,900 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of houses.