Three persons have been missing for more than a week from a highland at Barelek in Jajarkot district.

Man Bahadur Rokaya, Gorakh Rokaya and Birkha Bahadur Rokaya had gone to the highland to collect Setakchini, a medicinal herb, but never returned home. Locals believe that they might have been buried in an avalanche as Barelek, which lies around 4,000 metres above sea level, witnessed heavy snowfall in the past few days.

Prem Bohara, a resident of Barekot Rural Municipality-3, blamed the government authorities of not taking any initiatives to find the victims.

“We could not go to the site of incident due to heavy snowfalls. We hoped that they would return, but it has been more than a week since they went missing. We have lost all hopes of finding them alive now,” said Bohara.

Chief District Officer (CDO) Lalit Kumar Basnet said he was informed about the incident on Tuesday only.

Rescue operation can be a challenge as security personnel are unable to reach the incident site due to an incessant snowfall, Basnet said.