Nepal vows new safety rules for trekkers after deaths of 41 killed in blizzard, avalanches

FILE - In this v file photo, hospital personnel with the help of the relatives of the avalanche victims, shift the body of a victim onto a stretcher at a morgue at Teaching Hospital in Katmandu, Nepal. Nepal vowed to introduce new rules, improve weather forecasts and better monitor the movement of trekkers after the Himalayan country’s worst hiking disaster last week left dozens dead. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 20, 2014 file photo, hospital personnel with the help of the relatives of the avalanche victims, shift the body of a victim onto a stretcher at a morgue at Teaching Hospital in Katmandu, Nepal. Nepal vowed to introduce new rules, improve weather forecasts and better monitor the movement of trekkers after the Himalayan country’s worst hiking disaster last week left dozens dead. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File) (The Associated Press)

KATMANDU, Nepal – Nepalese officials say they plan to introduce new rules, improve weather forecasts and better monitor the movement of trekkers following the Himalayan country's worst hiking disaster last week.

Tourism Department official Tulasi Gautam said Tuesday that trekkers venturing to mountain trails will be required to take trained local guides, and will have to rent a GPS tracking unit to help authorities trace them in case of an emergency.

Gautam says the government plans to announce the new rules before the next trekking season in the spring.

Officials say 41 people, including foreign tourists and local guides, were killed last week when a blizzard and avalanches swept the northern mountains in central Nepal. More than 500 stranded trekkers were rescued.