RESCUERS have reached the bodies of seven of eight climbers after a team lead by a Scots mountaineer went missing in the Himalayas.

An Indian official said yesterday that after previous attempts were thwarted due to weather, rescuers had managed to get to the bodies on the notoriously dangerous, Nanda Devi East.

Veteran British mountaineer Martin Moran led the group of four Britons, two Americans, an Australian and an Indian on the expedition on Nanda Devi East.

Mr Moran ran Moran Mountain in Lochcarron, Wester Ross, and was leading a party of eight who failed to return to base camp.

Army rescuers have been scouring the region for traces of the climbers who failed to return, among fears they had been caught in an avalanche.

Contact with them was lost on May 26 following an avalanche.

Vijay Jogdande, an administrator of Uttarakhand state, said the bodies have yet to be identified.

Paramilitary soldiers carried out expeditions after helicopter missions failed to reach the area.

The bodies will now be brought to base camp from where they were found at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres (16,400 feet).

Earlier this month, the Moran family said the climbing group "had set out to attempt an unclimbed, unnamed summit, Peak 6477m, and the last contact intimated that all was well".

They added: "It is not entirely clear what happened from this point onwards or indeed the timeline of events. We do know a British mountain guide who was in the area leading a trekking group, as part of the same expedition, was informed the climbing group had not returned to base camp as expected. He immediately went on the mountain to search for the missing climbers.

"There was clear evidence a sizeable avalanche had occurred on the mountain and it seemed to be on or very near the route that would be taken by the climbing group."