Landslides triggered by torrential rain in Nepal have swept through villages, killing at least 30 people close to the nation’s most popular trekking circuit, home ministry officials say.

Rescuers are searching through rubble for about a dozen people believed missing in the western district of Kaski, in the foothills of the Himalayas, about 150km west of Kathmandu.

The landslides struck the villages near the resort town of Pokhara, shortly after midnight on Thursday.

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In the village of Lumle about half of the homes were buried or destroyed by a torrent of mud and rocks.

Eighteen people injured in the disaster were taken to local hospitals for treatment.

Scores of people die every year from flooding and landslides during the monsoon season in Nepal.

Two weeks ago a student was killed when a landslide buried part of a school in the nearby town of Pokhara, and 35 people died last month when a landslide crushed villages in northeast Nepal.

The monsoon rains are also hampering delivery of relief supplies to mountainous villages devastated by the massive earthquake that struck the Himalayan nation on April 25.

More than 8800 people were killed by the quake and a large aftershock, and many more were left without shelter.

– with AAP