At least 100 mountaineers, of whom one was already reported dead, were stranded in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh after heavy snowstorms have hit the area, news reports said Saturday. Among those trapped are Germans, Russians and Australian citizens.

The name of the trekker reported dead or the details and circumstances of his decease weren’t made public by officials.

There are five groups of mountain climbers reported missing. The groups include seven German nationals, eight Russians and an Australian, Uttarakhand official PC Dandriyal allegedly said, the PTI news agency reported.

"We have lost track of over 100 mountaineers, hikers, porters and guides from India and abroad who are stranded across Uttarakhand after heavy snowfall," Dandriyal said.

The rest of the trapped climbers were Indian citizens, including approximately 60 porters, guides and cooks. Three of the groups began their expeditions on September 18, while another left a day later. They were attempting to reach the Hindu pilgrimage site of Badrinath on October 5 through the Mana-Harsil route.

Heavy snow fell in the mountain region over the last 36 hours and meteorological forecasts estimate that the heavy snowfall will continue in the weekend.

The government has asked the Defense Ministry to send helicopters to find the trekkers, but whether they will be able to fly in those meteorological conditions it is unknown yet.

The Defense Ministry will probably comply with the government’s request as five Army mountaineers were also missing since Wednesday. They were trying to reach the 24,500-feet Nanda Devi east summit in the Garhwal Himalayas.

"We are trying to find the members of the four teams which went to Mana-Harsil trek route recently, following heavy snowfall in the region," Dandriyal said.

The contact with the mountaineers was lost on Friday. Only the team that includes the Russians succeeded in sending an SOS message which said they were stuck on the Gangotri glacier.

The trekking season in the region stretches from May to late October - an interlude between the melting of snows in the mountain passes and the beginning of winter snowfall. However, the early snowfall and blizzards caught the expedition organizers of guard.

Could the global warming have anything to do with it?