10 killed as Mt Everest engulfed by avalanche
Print Edition
CLIMBERS on the world’s highest mountain pleaded for help yesterday after a massive earthquake triggered an avalanche at Everest base camp, killing at least 10 people.
Base camp was crowded with foreign mountaineers and their sherpa teams at the start at the climbing season when the avalanche hit, destroying camps and sending slabs of ice crashing in what was described as a “huge disaster.”
“Running for life from my tent. Unhurt. Many many people up the mountain,” tweeted Romanian climber Alex Gavan who had been preparing to ascend nearby Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest peak.
“Huge disaster. Helped searched and rescued victims through huge debris area. Many dead. Much more badly injured. More to die if not heli asap,” he later tweeted.
Ten people were confirmed dead on the mountain and rescue efforts were under way but heavy snow was preventing helicopters from reaching climbers, an official said.
“There might be over 1,000 people there right now, including foreign climbers and Nepalese supporting staffs,” said Gyanendra Kumar Shrestha, an official in Nepal’s tourism department.
“Rescue helicopters have not been able to fly because of the weather,” he said.
Medics already at base camp for the climbing season were working hard to “save lives,” doctor and mountaineer Nima Namgyal Sherpa said on his Facebook page.
“Many camps have been destroyed by the shake and wind from the avalanche. All the doctors here are doing our best to treat and save lives,” he said.
“Big slabs of ice” hanging near camp two, further up the mountain from base camp, came crashing down after the earthquake, with poor communications compounding fears for climbers there.
“We had some 10 to 15 climbers including some sherpas up there and we still don’t have any confirmation reports (of) whether they are OK or not,” climber Arjun Vajpai told India’s NDTV.
About 700 climbers are in Solukhumbhu district, which includes Everest, with 300 thought to be at base camp itself, and another 300 just below, deputy superintendent of police Chandra Dev Rai said.
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