Update | Seventeen dead and nearly 150 missing as avalanche hits Annapurna trekking circuit in Nepal

A snowstorm and avalanche in Nepal's Himalayas has killed at least 17 hikers and guides, while almost 150 others are missing in one of the worst disasters in the region in the last 10 years.

Severe weather triggered by the tail end of Cyclone Hudhud, which battered neighbouring India's east coast, hit the groups of trekkers on the Annapurna circuit in central Nepal on Tuesday.

At least nine foreign hikers and eight local guides are known have died, along with a group of yak hurders.

Thousands of trekkers visit the Annapurna region every October, when weather conditions are usually favourable for hiking trips.

However, the region has experienced unusually heavy snowfall this week as a result of the cyclone which killed 22 people and caused widespread devastation in India.

As the weather cleared yesterday in the remote Mustang and Manang districts, rescuers, trudging through waist-deep snow, found 17 stranded trekkers, but another 143 foreign tourists remain out of contact.

Four bodies - of two Poles, one Israeli and a local trekker - were discovered buried in the snow in Mustang, said police official Ganesh Rai, who headed the rescue effort.