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Avalanche buries three sherpa climbers on Mount Everest, search underway

Avalanche buries three sherpa climbers on Mount Everest, search underway

FILE PHOTO: Mount Everest, the world highest peak, and other peaks of the Himalayan range are seen through an aircraft window during a mountain flight from Kathmandu, Nepal January 15, 2020.

Three Nepali sherpa guides went missing after an avalanche swept and buried them in a crevasse on Wednesday (April 12), as per a Tourism Department official. The avalanche hit the most popular Southeast Ridge route to the summit of the world’s tallest mountain.

The three guides were ferrying climbing gear to their clients. They were caught at an unspecified site between the Base Camp and Camp 1.

The Everest Base Camp, which turns into a tented city during the March-May climbing season, is located at an altitude of about 5,350 metres (17,552 feet) and Camp I is pitched across the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, the first major physical hurdle to the peak, at an altitude of about 6,050 metres (19,850 feet).

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Watch | 3 Nepali Sherpas go missing on Mount Everest

"A block of snow fell and buried them," Tourism Department official Yubaraj Khatiwada told Reuters.

The avalanche was the first disaster during this year's climbing season.

Mount Everest was first climbed by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and his climbing mate Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Thousands of climbers have scaled the peak since then and about 300 climbers have perished on its slopes so far.

Khatiwada said a search helicopter had been mobilised for the sherpas who are believed to have been buried in a 50 metre (164 feet) crevasse.

A ground search team also failed to locate the missing climbers so far, Khatiwada said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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