National
Rescue team retrieves climbers’ bodies
A high altitude search and rescue team, with support of the local people, on Sunday retrieved the bodies of nine climbers killed in a snowstorm at the Mt Gurja base camp in Myagdi.Ghanshyam Khadka
A high altitude search and rescue team, with support of the local people, on Sunday retrieved the bodies of nine climbers killed in a snowstorm at the Mt Gurja base camp in Myagdi.
Body of Netra Bahadur Chhantyal of Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality-1 in Myagdi was handed over to his family after carrying out the post-mortem in the district hospital. Eight other bodies were taken to Kathmandu via Pokhara.
Five South Korean nationals and four Nepali high-altitude workers died at the base camp when the snowstorm devastated their camp. Police said the tragedy occurred while mountaineers were waiting at a camp for a fair window of weather to scale the 7,193-metre peak. This was the first expedition team in eight years attempting to scale the mountain.
Police identified the deceased Koreans as Jaehun Lee, Chang Ho-kin, Jin Rim, Youngjik-yoo and Joon Mo-jeong. Tsering Bhote, Lakpa Sangbu Bhote, Phurba Sherpa of Sankhuwasabha and Netra Bahadur of Myagdi also perished in the incident. Rescuers retrieved the bodies scattered in cliffs around 200 metres from the camp that was set atop a hill at an altitude of 4,500 metres. A helicopter rescue team and the locals had spotted the bodies on Saturday, but strong winds prevented them from retrieving the bodies.
“The rescuers and locals retrieved the bodies scattered in the cliffs and ravine. There were no traces of snowfall and avalanche in the incident sites,” said Sama Prasad Chhantyal, a relative of a deceased.