Rescue Workers Battle Landslides to Reach Isolated Villages

Rescue workers battled landslides to deliver medical aid to isolated villages in the foothills of Nepal's Himalayas on Monday, an AFP journalist at the scene said, two weeks after a devastating earthquake hit the country.

Villagers rushed to a helicopter being used by aid workers after it landed in far-flung villages in Gorkha district, along the popular Manaslu trekking route, desperate for medical supplies that have failed to reach them so far.

An aerial view of the area showed villages flattened by the April 25 quake, which crushed the small guesthouses scattered along the trekking route.

"We are trying to distribute relief materials to every village, using helicopters in areas cut off by landslides," Uddav Prasad Timilsina, chief district officer of Gorkha, told AFP.

Timilsina said that a team of soldiers was deployed on Monday to free up blocked areas along the trekking route.

The quake has killed over 8,000 across the country, leaving thousands more homeless and in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter.