KATHMANDU, Apr 13 (NNN-XINHUA) – Three Nepali Sherpa climbers went missing yesterday morning, in an avalanche close to Camp I of Mt. Qomolangma, and they have not been found during a day-long air and ground search, said an official from the Department of Tourism.
“There is a plan to continue the rescue operation today, but the chance of finding them alive is increasingly becoming slim,” Yubaraj Khatiwada, director of the department’s mountaineering section, said, last night.
“As they have remained buried so long, it is unlikely that we will find them alive now,” he added.
Dachhiri Sherpa, Pemba Denjing Sherpa and Lakpa Rita Sherpa were buried by a tumbling massive ice sheet, when they were at the icefall area between the base camp and Camp I of the world’s tallest peak, the tourism department said in a press statement.
It is the first accident in this spring climbing season, on the 8,848.86-metre-high Mt. Qomolangma, which straddles Nepal and China.
The climbing guides were deployed by the Imagine Nepal Trek and Expedition, which said, the incident took place at around 9:30 a.m. local time, yesterday.
“They were climbing from the base camp to Camp I of Mt. Qomolangma, taking climbing materials of expedition members,” Dawa Sherpa, a staff member of the company, said.
The avalanche hit the climbing guides at the treacherous Khumbu Icefall area, which stretches from 5,500 to 5,800 metres above sea level and lies just above the base camp.
The Khumbu Icefall is covered with ice blocks and considered very dangerous because of a frequent outbreak of avalanches, which have killed several mountaineers in recent years.
According to the tourism department, 559 climbers have received permits to climb mountains inside Nepal, by Apr 10, and 243 of them are for Mt. Qomolangma.– NNN-XINHUA
