A Richmond pastor and his family were able to rejoice yesterday as they received news that his brother and his new wife were safe after last week's Himalayan tragedy.

At least 39 people died when a snowstorm hit the Thorong La pass in the Annapurna circuit, with many more still unaccounted for. The majority of victims confirmed so far were Nepali guides and porters.

Father of three Andy Kimmerling, 54, and his new wife Suzanne, were on their honeymoon and had not been heard of since Wednesday's blizzard. His brother Bob, pastor of the Vineyard church in Richmond, told Christian Today of a "fraught" weekend. However, he was in church on Sunday morning when he took a call from his elder brother telling him the couple were safe.

"It was quite dramatic," he said. "I'd kept the phone on – I wasn't leading the service – when I fielded the call just before 11. I went out and it was quite a few minutes before I came back. My wife was waiting to hear and I gave her the thumbs up, then I spoke to the church and there was a cheer."

He added: "The whole family was enormously relieved. They were not harmed; they had been trekking in the area and were out of contact."

Kimmerling explained that the wider family had not yet met Suzanne, who comes from Denmark, and it had been difficult to liaise with her family. His brother's grown-up daughters were widely scattered too. "There was a lot of complexity about it," he said.

The couple are due back in the UK at the end of the week, when a family celebration is planned.

The situation in the Thorong La area is still confused, with the authorities having no clear idea as yet who was on the mountain when the storm hit and who might have turned back to find shelter. It is feared that many bodies may still be hidden under the snow and very difficult to find. Many survivors have frostbite and other injuries.

The weather is usually good on the mountain at this time of year, but the snowstorms are thought to have been caused by the tail end of a cyclone that hit the Indian coast a few days earlier.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office urged British nationals who had been travelling in the affected areas to get in touch with relatives by telephone or social media to confirm their whereabouts.