Avalanche kills 12 Nepalese guides on Mount Everest.

[Rangergxi]

[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/avalanche-sweeps-everest-4-5-believed-buried/2014/04/17/56438c9e-c6a8-11e3-b708-471bae3cb10c_story.html[/url]

[QUOTE]KATMANDU, Nepal — An avalanche swept down a climbing route on Mount Everest early Friday, killing at least 12 Nepalese guides and leaving four missing in the deadliest disaster on the world’s highest peak. Several more were injured.

The Sherpa guides had gone early in the morning to fix ropes for other climbers when the avalanche hit them at about 6:30 a.m., Nepal Tourism Ministry official Krishna Lamsal said from the base camp where he is monitoring rescue efforts.

An injured survivor told his relatives that the path up the mountain was unstable just before the avalanche. As soon as the avalanche hit, rescuers, guides and climbers rushed to help.

Four survivors were injured badly enough to require airlifting to a hospital in Katmandu. One arrived during the day, and three taken to the foothill town of Lukla could be evacuated Saturday. Others with less serious injuries were being treated at base camp.

Rescue workers pulled out 12 bodies from under mounds of snow and ice and were searching for the four missing guides, Lamsal said. Officials had earlier said three were missing.

The avalanche hit an area nicknamed the “popcorn field” for its bulging chucks of ice and is just below Camp 2[/QUOTE]

[Cobbart]

It must be terrible for the other Sherpa's to lose that many friends like that :(

[JohnnyMo]

That's pretty horrible. It seems crazy that this is the most deadly accident so far, but I guess we've only been successfully climbing Everest for a few decades now. The Khumbu icefall is just a scary place.

[Aide]

That sucks but, boy I cant wait for the live wingsuit jump on discovery channel.

[Jamsponge]

I've always found it crazy about Mount Everest that it's too cold for the bodies to properly decompose. If they don't find the other four, there's a chance they might stay there for years or even decades before they're discovered, and they'll likely be in a similar state to when the event itself happened.

It might sound cruel, but I'm shocked that this is the deadliest accident to ever happen on Everest. I suppose normally, though, if somebody dies it wouldn't be considered an 'accident'?

[Splarg]

Being an Everest guide is apparently pretty ridiculous because they take a risk that seems relatively small for one-time climbers over and over and over.