KATHMANDU, Oct 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – At least eight climbers from a South
Korean expedition have died on Nepal’s Mount Gurja after their camp was
devastated by a violent snowstorm, officials said Saturday.
The bodies of eight climbers, including their Nepali guides, were spotted
among the wreckage of their camp by a rescue team early Saturday morning, but
unstable and icy conditions were hampering the search effort.
“We assume the incident happened because of a snowstorm because trees are
broken and the tents. Even the dead bodies are scattered,” police spokesman
Sailesh Thapa told AFP.
Thapa said a ninth climber may also be missing.
A helicopter reached the site and managed to land just above the
expedition team’s camp, but were unable to retrieve any of the bodies.
“Everything is gone, all the tents are blown apart. The conditions were
too icy to continue the search,” pilot Siddartha Gurung told AFP.
Gurung said a rescue team would hopefully return to the camp on Sunday, if
conditions improved.
Wangchu Sherpa of Trekking Camp Nepal, who organised the expedition, said
they raised the alarm after they had not heard from the team for nearly 24
hours.
“After they (the climbers) were out of contact since yesterday we sent
people from the village and a helicopter to search for them,” he said.
The group of South Korean climbers and their Nepali guides were camped at
the foot of 7,193 metre (23,599 foot) Mount Gurja, waiting for a window of
good weather so they could attempt to reach the summit.
Feted South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho, who in 2013 became the fastest
person to summit the world’s 14 highest mountains without using supplemental
oxygen, is reportedly among the dead, according to local media.
Gurja lies in Nepal’s Annapurna region, next to avalanche-prone Dhaulagiri
— the world’s seventh highest mountain.
Thousands of climbers flock to Nepal each year — home to eight of the
world’s 14 highest peaks — creating a lucrative mountain tourism industry
that is a vital source of cash for the impoverished country.