Yahoo Sports Nine climbers dead after snow storm hits camp on Nepal mountains
Five South Korean climbers, including a world record holder, and their four Nepali guides have died after a snowstorm destroyed their camp on Mount Gurja in Nepal.
“Base camp looks like a bomb went off,” said Dan Richards of Global Rescue, a US-based emergency assistance group that helped in the retrieval effort.
The group was attempting to climb the 23,590-foot peak when the storm hit late last week, according to rescuers.
According to the Himalayan Database, no-one has stood on Gurja’s summit since 1996.
Rameshwor Niraula of Nepal’s Mountaineering Department, which issues climbing permits and monitors expeditions, said that although officials were still gathering details of what exactly happened, they believed that the climbers were blown over by the blast of the blizzard-like wind conditions.
Local police chief Bir Bahadur Budamagar said that the broken limbs and head trauma indicated a violent wind.
The storm flung them off the mountain into the cliff and ravine below. The bodies of the deceased were recovered with eight of them brought to Kathmandu and one left in his western home district of Myagdi.
One of the climbers was world record holder Kim Chang-ho, who had set the world record for scaling the world’s 14-tallest peaks over seven years and 10 months and without the use of supplemental oxygen.
An official from the Corean Alpine Club identified the other four members of the South Korean climbers and said that the bodies would return to Seoul early Wednesday.
The dangers of Mount Gurja
According to the Himalayan Database, no one has stood on Gurja’s summit since 1996. More than 8,000 people have climbed Mount Everest.
The Korean Alpine Federation said that Kim had been trying to find a new route on the rarely climbed Mount Gurja. He wanted to name the new path “Korean Way: One Korea — Unification of North and South Korea.”
Although Gurja is the shortest peak in the Dhaulagiri range, it can be extremely dangerous due to vicious winds and deep gullies, according to rescuer Suraj Paudyal.
One of the deadliest tragedies
It was one of the deadliest climbing accidents to hit Nepal since 2015 when an earthquake triggered an avalanche that killed 18 people on Mount Everest.
An avalanche in 2014 had also killed 16 Nepalese Sherpa guides and a blizzard that same year killed at least 27 people.
Rescuers hindered by weather
An alarm was raised after contact with the group was lost for nearly 24 hours, according to BBC.
Although rescue efforts were made on Saturday once word got out, helicopters were not able to land because of the bad weather.
According to Reuters, villagers spotted the bodies on Saturday and rescuers were able to retrieve them on Sunday.
South Korean president speaks out
South Korean President Moon Jae-in issued a statement via Facebook honoring the victims on Monday after the bodies were recovered.
The present said that the group displayed “great spirit that’s about respecting nature while simultaneously trying to overcome it.”
“A snow storm has taken the nine climbers into the mountains forever,” Moon said. “But their bravery and fighting spirit to break out a new route can never be buried.”
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