DHAKA: The Russian embassy in Nepal has confirmed the deaths of two young diplomats, Alexei Lipeev and Maria Yakovleva, after their bodies were discovered in the mountain village of Langtang, the settlement that was worst affected by the earthquake.

‘This morning in the course of the search operation being carried out in the territory of Langtang, two bodies were found,’ Azret Botashev, press attaché of the Russian embassy in Nepal confirmed on Thursday, reports sputniknews.com.

‘Embassy staff and emergency workers later identified the bodies as those of Russian diplomats, Alexei Lipeev and Maria Yakovleva.’

The couple, who worked as press attachés in the Russian embassy in Pakistan, were vacationing in Nepal when the earthquake hit on April 25.

A representative of the Russian emergencies ministry in Nepal stated that preparations are being made to bring the bodies back to Moscow, which were found after a five-day search for them carried out in the area of Langtang by a team of alpine rescuers.

On Monday the Russian embassy in Nepal stated they had made contact with almost all Russian tourists known to be in Nepal at the time of the earthquake, with the exception of Lipeev and Yakovleva.

The Russian authorities also confirmed on Monday the evacuation of another 36 people, including citizens of Nepal and Belarus, to Moscow from Nepal, in addition to two aircraft which last week carried 128 evacuees of different nationalities to Moscow.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 and its epicenter was 80 km northwest of the capital, Kathmandu.

According to Nepal’s National Emergency Operation Centre the earthquake, the strongest since 1934, killed more than 7,000 people and injured at least 14,000 others.

BDST: 0330 HRS, MAY 08, 2015
RR