South Korean mountaineer Park Young-seok and two fellow climbers who went missing after setting off to scale the south face of Annapurna in the Himalayas are likely to have come across an avalanche.

The Korean Alpine Federation said Friday that it received a report from the local base camp that the rope Park used with the two other members of his mountain-climbing party was found half-buried in snow.

The federation said the spot where the rope was found is known to be a section that sees avalanches frequently, adding that signs of avalanche were spotted around the rope.

The federation said it is highly likely the three climbers are either buried under snow or have fallen in a crevasse of a glacier.

Earlier on Thursday, the federation sent four rescue workers to the Himalayas to search for Park and his two fellow climbers.