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The
avalanche hit the most popular Southeast Ridge route to the
summit of the world’s tallest mountain.
Three guides who were ferrying climbing gear for their clients
were caught at an unspecified site between the Base Camp and
Camp I on its lower parts.
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).
"A block of snow fell and buried them," Tourism Department
official Yubaraj Khatiwada told Reuters.
Wednesday’s disaster was the first on Mount Everest during this
year’s climbing season, when hundreds of foreign and Nepali
climbers are expected flock to the mountain to attempt to reach
its 8,849 metres (29,032 feet) peak.
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 mobilized 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.
Nepal, tucked between China and India, is home to eight of the
world's 14 tallest peaks including Everest.
Climbing Mount Everest and many other smaller peaks is a popular
adventure sport in Nepal as well as a source of employment and
income to the cashed-strapped nation.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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