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KATHMANDOU, Nepal (AP) – The nine climbers who died during the worst disaster on a mountain in Nepal in recent years include the first South Korean to reach 14 Himalayan peaks over 8,000 meters without using Extra oxygen.
Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Monday that Kim Chang-ho was among the dead, but has yet to reveal the names of the other four South Koreans. Four Nepali guides were also killed when a storm swept through the base camp of mountaineers on Gurja Himal Mountain on Friday.
Rescuers had recovered the bodies of mountaineers Sunday after the clear weather. The body of one of the guides was transported to his village, while the remaining eight were flown to Kathmandu.
"It was the worst alpine disaster in Nepal in recent years and an unimaginable one," said Rameshwor Niraula of Nepal's Mountaineering Department, which issues climbing permits and oversees expeditions.
Niraula said the officials were still gathering the details of exactly what had happened, but according to what the rescuers described, the climbers were blown over by the wind blowing like a snowstorm. .
A Korean member of the climbing team fell ill and was in a village well below the base camp during the storm.
This is the deadliest disaster in Nepal since 2015, when 19 people were killed at Mount Everest base camp by an avalanche caused by an earthquake that devastated the country. The previous year, an avalanche over base camp Everest killed 16 Nepalese Sherpa guides.
The Himalayan range includes the 14 world summits exceeding 8,000 meters in altitude, and only a few dozen mountaineers have ascertained verified and successful climbs. Kim achieved his feat in 2013.
Santa Lama, of the Mountaineers Association of Nepal, who participated in the rescue coordination, said the nine people were killed in the camp and that no surviving witness had yet been able to to be stopped, it was difficult to say exactly what had happened or when.
Mountaineers were also attempting to climb a 7,193-meter peak that is not one of the highest, most difficult, or most popular mountains in Nepal.
Mourning family members gathered at the Tribhuvan University Hospital in Nepal's capital, where the bodies were to be autopsied before being handed over to their families.
The South Korean ministry told reporters that strong winds during the storm swept the victims from their base camp at the edge of a steep cliff. The news of the destruction was broadcast Saturday morning and helicopters were sent. They could not land because of bad weather but spotted the bodies found Sunday.
They were issued a license to climb the summit during the fall climbing season. Spring and autumn are the best climbing seasons in Nepal between the harsh winter and the summer monsoon.
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Kim Tong-hyung, Associate Press Editor in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
