Family questions rescue efforts for Sherpa guide found alive on Everest, seeks legal action
Dawa Sherpa, 57, was found on Thursday (Jun 4) crawling in the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above Everest base camp, a week after he went missing.
· CNA · JoinRead a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
KATHMANDU: A Sherpa guide who survived a week on the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest was recovering at a hospital in Nepal's capital on Friday (Jun 5), while his family angered by a delay in rescue efforts sought legal action against those responsible.
Dawa Sherpa was found Thursday crawling in the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above Everest base camp, a week after he went missing.
The 57-year-old was flown to a Kathmandu hospital and reunited with his family. He was being treated for frostbite, dehydration and problems in his thighs but was stable and recovering, HAMS Hospital said in a statement.
His family said they were upset that the search had not begun earlier and filed a police case against Dawa's employer, the Kathmandu-based Himalayan Traverse company, and a complaint at the Department of Tourism, which handles mountaineering in Nepal.
CNA Games
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Show More
Show Less
“Action needs to be taken by the mountaineering department. It was negligence of the company that resulted in so much delay in starting rescue,” Dawa's nephew, Karma Gelje Sherpa, said.
“If he had been a foreign climber, rescue would definitely have been organised much faster and prompt, but he happened to be an old Nepali.”
Himalayan Traverse could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.
Dawa was last seen around May 29 descending the mountain, but he did not reach base camp even though two other foreign climbers who were with him did. They were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled.
Dawa's last location was a spot called Yellow Band above Camp 3, which is located at 7,200m. Base camp is at 5,300m.
Dawa was last seen with British climber Chris Thrall and a Polish climber identified by local media as Mariusz Chmielewski. Thrall said in an Instagram post that he had to help the Polish climber down the mountain because he was in bad shape and had frostbite.
“He (Dawa) had been in death zone for 19 hours and at that point, a decision was made that we needed to descent through the Icefall,” he said earlier this week, explaining why he did not go up the mountain to look for Dawa.
When helicopters were finally sent to look for him, they could not find him.
It was not clear why the men were on the mountain when authorities had removed the ladders on the path on May 29.
Dawa's family had already given up hope and they were on the second day of a funeral ritual, which lasts for several days.
The team that spotted him was part of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which lays the ladders and ropes on the route at the start of each climbing season and then removes the equipment and cleans up the site after climbers have left.
Newsletter
Morning Brief
Subscribe to CNA’s Morning Brief
An automated curation of our top stories to start your day.
Sign up for our newsletters
Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app