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KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Five South Korean mountaineers and their four Nepali guides were killed after their base camp in the Himalayas was ravaged by a storm, local police and hikers said on Sunday.
The disaster, which cost Korean rock climber Kim Chang-ho, who breaks all records, is the worst climbing accident in the Himalayan nation in two years.
According to police chief Bir Bahadur Budhamagar, rescuers assisted by the local population found the bodies of the nine mountaineers on Sunday near their base camp at Mount Gurja, a 7,196-meter peak, located about 216 km away. northwest of the Nepalese capital. , Kathmandu.
"The bodies of five Koreans and four Nepalese have been identified," Budhamagar told Reuters, from the Myagdi district, where the disaster occurred.
On Saturday, police said the locals had spotted seven bodies on the slopes of the mountain, but the rescuers were unable to recover them due to bad weather.
The Korean expedition was led by Chang-ho, which in 2013 set the record for the fastest to reach the peaks of the 14 highest mountains in the world without using additional oxygen, according to officials climbing.
Among the victims was a Korean team of four men on Gurja Mountain. They were at the base camp at 3,500 meters (11,482) at the time of the storm. The fifth Korean was a hiker, who joined the group, according to the leaders of the hike.
Nepal is home to eight of the 14 highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, and the fall climbing season is at its peak. The income of foreign climbers is an important source of income for the cash – strapped country.
Report by Gopal Sharma; Edited by Mark Potter
