SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Three South Korean mountaineers led by Park Young-seok may have fallen into a large crevice on the south face of a Himalayan peak they were trying to conquer, a local alpine federation said Saturday.

The Korean Alpine Federation (KAF) said rescue teams sent to Annapurna to find the missing climbers, reported finding a huge crevice at an altitude of 5,800 meters. The crevice was located at a region where the south face of the peak meets the glacier.

The rescue team was sent up to find Park, Kang Ki-seok and Shin Dong-min who have all gone missing since Tuesday. At that time, the climbers reported via satellite phone that they were in the midst of a snow avalanche.

"If they had fallen into such a crevice, that could be up to 40 meters deep, the possibility that they are safe is not good, especially if they were hurt," an association official said.

The official, who declined to be named, said, however, that there is still a chance the climbers are alive since they had plenty of food and had the equipment to survive in harsh conditions.

The KAF reported that on-site rescue workers had to call off the search as of 4 p.m. local time because of snow. They added that two more highly experienced Korean climbers have volunteered to join the rescue effort.

The group leader, Park, 47, is one of the world's most successful climbers. In 2005, he became the first in the world to complete the true Adventurers' Grand Slam, a feat to reach the North Pole and the South Pole and scale the 14 eight-thousanders and the Seven Summits, which are the highest peaks on seven continents.

Park is the first of four South Koreans to have climbed all 14 eight-thousanders. He has already scaled Annapurna and returned this time to try a different route on the mountain's southern side.