Everest claims more lives

KATHMANDU, 23 May 2017: Three climbers died on Everest over the weekend and another is missing, officials confirmed Monday, in one of the deadliest episodes on the peak since an avalanche swept through base camp and killed 18 two years ago.

More than a dozen climbers have been rescued from the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) mountain in the last three days after running into difficulties on the world’s highest peak, helicopter rescue operators told AFP.

The weekend fatalities appear related to altitude sickness and bring the death toll to five during a season marked by unpredictable weather, strong winds and unusually cold temperatures. Read more

Fast forward up Everest

KATHMANDU, 12 May 2017: As other Everest hopefuls were trudging up to base camp in April, Singapore-based Brooks Entwistle was at home, planning his daughter’s 13th birthday party and preparing for his company’s annual general meeting.

But at night he would climb into a hypoxic, or low oxygen, tent meant to mimic the thin air at high altitude.

Now on Everest, Entwistle, a partner with Singapore’s Everstone Group, is hoping to summit the world’s highest peak in just 35 days — half the time of a conventional climb. Read more

Taiwanese trekker rescued in Nepal

KATHMANDU, 27 April 2017: Rescuers on Wednesday found two Taiwanese trekkers who went missing in a remote mountainous part of Nepal seven weeks ago, but only one survived the ordeal.

Liu Chen-chun, 19,​ died just three days before the rescue team located the couple in northwest Nepal, but her boyfriend managed to survive despite running out of food.

Liang Sheng-yueh, 21, is being treated in hospital in Kathmandu where he was airlifted after being rescued from the steep slope where the couple had been trapped for over a month. Read more

Nepal: Slow recovery after quake

LANGTANG, 25 April 2016: Langtang in Nepal is now little more than a graveyard. The once tranquil mountain village was obliterated last April when a massive earthquake shattered a glacier, raining tonnes of ice, snow and rock down into the valley below, where hundreds of bodies still lie buried.

Scientists estimate the avalanche hit the ground with enough force to cause a blast more than half the strength of the nuclear bomb, dropped on Hiroshima, making it a miracle that anyone survived.

Those who did are making a hesitant return. Still struggling to come to terms with their loss, unable to forget the horror, they are nonetheless attempting to rebuild their lives. Read more

US trekker dies in Nepal

KATHMANDU, 9 February 2016: An American trekker has died of suspected altitude sickness after falling unconscious in Nepal, police said Monday.

The 53-year-old was hiking with two friends to Nepal’s remote Upper Mustang region, an alpine desert with a maximum altitude of 3,840 metres (12,600 feet).

The group had stopped at a local hotel for the night when the victim fell unconscious on Sunday evening. Read more