India, May 13 -- Glaciologists and local communities mourned the loss of Nepal's Yala glacier, believed to be the first Nepalese glacier to be declared "dead".

Locals and glaciologists from four countries - Nepal, India, China and Bhutan - in the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) gathered to mark the accelerating disappearance of Nepal's Yala Glacier in Langtang, Nepal on Monday according to a statement by Kathmandu based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

Yala is the first glacier in Asia and the third glacier worldwide to carry a plaque with words by author, Andri Snaer Magnason in its memory. Plaques bearing his message also sit at the site of the world's first glacier funeral, which took place in Magnason's ...