Nepal's army says it has finished draining a dangerous glacial lake near Mount Everest to a safe level.

The Imja glacial lake, at nearly 5,000m (16,400ft) high, was in danger of flooding downstream settlements, trekking trails and bridges.

The lake, which was originally 149m deep in places, has had its water levels lowered by 3.4m after months of pain-staking work, officials say.

Imja is one of thousands of glacial lakes in the Himalayas.

Many of the lakes are said to be filling up fast because of accelerated melting of glaciers amid rising global temperatures.

Last year's earthquake in Nepal is also feared to have further destabilised Lake Imja.

The military said the project to make it safe was the highest drainage project of its kind, with army personnel and Sherpas working for six months to construct an outlet to gradually release the water.

After the outlet was constructed, nearly 4m cubic metres of water was released - in a process that took two months.

(BBC)