Three Sherpas have gone missing after an avalanche hit Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak. /Monika Deupala/Reuters/FILE
Published Friday 2023.04.14 12:55 JST
(CNN) Three Nepalese Sherpas have gone missing after being hit by an avalanche on the eve of the season to climb Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain.Nepal Tourism Board in December
The trio carried materials needed for route construction and maintenance as climbers prepared for the spring climbing season.
Search and rescue operations by helicopters and ground search and rescue teams are still ongoing, the statement said.
“The search for those buried by the avalanche is becoming increasingly difficult and details of their whereabouts are unknown,” he told state-run newspaper Rising Nepal.
The avalanche occurred in an area known as “The Dam” between Base Camp and Camp 1.
This is the area around the Khumbu Icefall. The slope of the glacier is steep, like a frozen waterfall, which is particularly dangerous. The job of the Sherpas was to find a safe route across the fissured Khumbu Glacier.
Spring is the busiest season on Everest, with 243 climbers from 47 countries climbing the mountain this spring, according to the tourism bureau.
Nepal is home to 8 of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, and mountaineering is an important source of income and employs large numbers of Sherpas, guides and porters to support climbers.
