About 2000 people are stranded in the foothills of Mount Everest because flights in the area are halted by bad weather.
Foreign trekkers and Nepalese guides and porters are among those who have been stuck in the region for five days.
The Tenzing-Hillary airport in Lukla is the gateway for trekkers wishing to scale the world's highest peak.
All hotels are reported to full and food is running out because tourists are unable to leave.
A BBC correspondent says air traffic controllers fear that the bad weather is unlikely to lift for days.
Last year a similar bout of bad weather stranded tourists for about 15 days.
Reports say that a few helicopters managed to take some tourists away on Friday, but bad weather was hampering these efforts.
Thousands of tourists visit the Everest region during the peak season in the latter part of the year.
