KATHMANDU, June 4 (Reuters) – A Nepali Sherpa guide has been rescued from Everest after surviving about a week on the slopes of the world’s highest mountain without food or oxygen in a rare case of survival in such conditions, a hiking official said on Thursday.
Dawa Sherpa, 52, was returning with a Polish climber after failing to reach the 8,849 m (29,032 ft) summit, when he went missing between Camp III and Camp IV.
He was last seen on May 29. His client returned to base camp, but it was not clear how they got separated.
They were among the last climbers on Everest this season, which ended last month.
Lama Kazi Sherpa, of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, said his team located Dawa above base camp near the Khumbu Icefall and brought him down to safety. His team was cleaning up after the season ended.
Dawa, still in a climbing jacket, was rushed from the helipad to hospital on a trolley.
Dawa’s family said he was doing well and undergoing treatment for frostbite and other complications.
“He recognised me … is good and speaks,” said Mhendo Lhamo Sherpa, the guide’s daughter. “We are happy.”
“Dawa survived alone for nearly a week without food, water, or supplemental oxygen navigating the treacherous Khumbu Icefall (even after the fixed ladders were removed for the season),” the Nepal Mount Everest hiking company said in a social media post. “This is nothing short of a miracle.”
A record number of more than 1,000 climbers and their guides scaled Everest this season, with the government issuing 494 permits.
Five climbers and guides died on Everest this season, officials said.
Many climbers were stranded at base camp after a towering block of glacial ice delayed the opening of the route to the world’s tallest peak in April.
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