Four French climbers missing in Nepal

KATHMANDU, Nov 14 (Reuters) Four French climbers have gone missing while trying to scale an Himalayan mountain peak in central Nepal, a climbing group and the French Foreign Ministry said today.

The men had gone to climb the 19,344 feet Paldor peak north of the capital, Kathmandu, last month and were due to return on November. 5, Binayak Shakya, a senior Nepal Mountaineering Association official told Reuters.

''But nothing has been heard about them so far,'' Shakya said.

An aerial search was conducted but there was no trace of them, he added.

In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry confirmed the men were missing. The team, two mountain guides and two climbers hoping to become guides, set off to scale the peak without porters or local climbers, it said in a statement.

Every year, thousands of foreign climbers visit Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest peaks including Mount Everest.

REUTERS MS RK1630