Nepalese emergency workers Tuesday retrieved the bodies of two porters killed in a massive Himalayan snowstorm that has left at least 43 dead, as the government vowed to reform the trekking industry.

Rescue workers, who had planned to end their search, returned to the mountains to look for survivors on Tuesday after receiving fresh information suggesting that trekkers, guides and porters may still be stranded on the popular Annapurna Circuit route.

A snowstorm that killed dozens of people in Nepal is a "wake-up call" for the trekking industry and tourists alike, experts say, with some heading to the world's highest mountains unprepared for conditions that can easily turn deadly.

At least 26 hikers, guides and porters were killed when heavy snow and avalanches struck the Annapurna circuit in the Himalayas last Tuesday at the height of the trekking season, in one of the worst disasters ever to hit the country.

Nepalese teams pulled three more bodies from the snow on Monday, as authorities prepared to end the full-scale search for survivors of a snowstorm that struck almost a week ago, leaving at least 40 dead or presumed dead.

More than 500 people have now been airlifted to safety since heavy snow hit Nepal's popular Annapurna region last Tuesday at the height of the trekking season, triggering avalanches and killing dozens of people.

Nepalese teams Sunday rescued 34 more trekkers and guides stranded in the Himalayas since a deadly snowstorm struck five days ago at the height of the hiking season, officials said.

Rescuers using helicopters also found three more bodies buried on the highly popular Annapurna Circuit trekking route, taking the total number of those confirmed or feared dead to 40.

The death toll from a devastating snowstorm in Nepal's Himalayas climbed to 43 on Saturday, in the worst trekking disaster ever to hit the mountainous country.

Tuesday's storm, which triggered avalanches, struck at the height of the trekking season, catching hikers unaware on their way up to an exposed high mountain pass along the scenic Annapurna Circuit route.

Nepal's prime minister has pledged to set up a weather warning system after a major Himalayan snowstorm killed 32 people at the height of the trekking season, 17 of them tourists.

Forecasters had predicted the snowstorm, but many walkers appeared to have been caught unawares and were heading to an exposed high mountain pass that forms part of the popular Annapurna Circuit trekking route when it struck.

Nepalese rescuers on Thursday scoured Himalayan hiking routes for more than 100 trekkers who have been out of contact since a snowstorm and avalanche that have killed around 32 people, including foreign tourists and guides.

Local officials said that 24 bodies had been found on the popular Annapurna circuit, while five climbers who were staying at a mountain base camp when it was hit by an avalanche could not be found and were presumed dead.

Nine trekkers -- eight foreigners and a local man -- have been killed in a snowstorm and avalanche in Nepal's Himalayas, officials said Wednesday, updating the death toll from four.

"A chopper search has located the bodies of five people, including four Canadians and an Indian, killed in an avalanche, bringing the total number of dead to nine," police official Ganesh Rai, who is in charge of rescue efforts, told Agence France Presse.

Two European climbers have been swept away by an avalanche while a veteran Japanese mountaineer has plunged to his death in a separate tragedy in the Himalayas, officials said Saturday.

A European team of elite mountaineers were 100 metes shy of summiting the world's 14th-highest peak -- China's 8,027-meter (26,335-foot) Shisha Pangma peak -- when Wednesday's avalanche hit.

Nepal must scrap a 35-day time limit for reporting rapes that prevents victims from seeking justice, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday in a report on wartime sexual violence in the Himalayan nation.

Both sides in Nepal's 1996-2006 civil war between Maoist guerrillas and the state were accused of serious human rights violations including rape, but no one has yet been prosecuted.