BREAKING: High Altitude Avalanche Sweeps Mt. Everest; 13 dead

Officials say about five climbers are feared missing after an avalanche swept the slopes of Mount Everest and hit a route used to assent the world's highest peak.

Nepal Tourism Ministry official Madhu Sudan Burlakoti says the avalanche hit the area just below Camp 2 around 6:30 a.m. Friday. Rescuers and fellow climbers at the base camp are heading to the area to help. A helicopter is on the way from Katmandu.


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Climbing season on the world's highest peak begins no earlier than May 15.




updated:
Sherpa climbers aided by helicopters resumed a search on Saturday for four missing guides after an ice avalanche swept the lower slopes of Mount Everest, killing at least 12 in the deadliest accident on the world's highest mountain.

Climbers declared a four-day halt to efforts to scale the 8,848-metre (29,029-ft) summit and, while some decided to abandon their mission, others said they would go ahead after talking to their Nepali guides.

"I sat and counted 13 helicopter lifts - 12 were dead bodies flying overhead suspended by a long line from a helicopter," Tim Rippel of Peak Freaks Expeditions wrote in a blog.

"Everyone is shaken here at Base Camp. Some climbers are packing up and calling it quits, they want nothing to do with this. Reality has set in."





CNN Breaking News ‏@cnnbrk · 2m
13th Sherpa in Mount Everest avalanche has died.

Last Edited by Xray J on 04/19/2014 07:53 AM