SA man tells of Everest ice rain

Sean Wisedale

Sean Wisedale

Published Apr 27, 2015

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Durban - Emdloti adventurer Sean Wisedale has described how climbers on Mount Everest prayed for their lives as the mountain shook and an avalanche of snow and rocks threatened to bury them alive.

Wisedale was at base camp with a team waiting to climb the mountain. According to media reports, 300 000 foreigners were in Nepal for the trekking and climbing season.

On Monday morning the death toll was more than 3 300 and rising.

Wisedale said the South Africans were shielded by a high ridge but a “plume of crystallised ice” rained down on them a minute after the earthquake he wrote on his blog (www.seanwisedale.com/blog).

“We all dived into our safest and most shielded tents... we huddled around hoping not to be crushed alive,” he wrote.

“A minute later it had (passed) but we all knew there were going to be casualties. Unsure of whether another quake or aftershock would hit or whether the glacier would open up beneath our feet, we waited.”

Wisedale said the weather conditions were bad with heavy snowfall and zero visibility of the surrounding peaks.

Many had been evacuated from the camp. “Helicopters have been flying in all day to evacuate the wounded. We are thankful to be safe and alive.”

Other South Africans also reported to be all safe are pupils from St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls in Pretoria, who are on a World Challenge Expedition to Nepal.

Their Facebook page said all their teams had been accounted for and were safe.

Eyewitness News reported that seven members of the Johannesburg Hiking Club in Nepal are also said to be safe. At least 17 climbers on Mount Everest are known to have died.

The South African Department of International Relations and Co-operation said on Sunday it had made contact with citizens – it would not say how many – but asked to be alerted to others that might be there.

Department spokesman, Clayson Monyela, when asked when they would return home as it has been reported that the Kathmandu Airport was currently closed to commercial flights, said this was something the local authorities would have to work out.

Measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, the earthquake hit the Kathmandu Valley, triggering avalanches on Mount Everest.

An aftershock between Kathmandu and Everest, measured at 6.7, unleashed more avalanches in the Himalayas.

Humanitarian organisation, Gift of the Givers, said it was preparing to send about 20 search and rescue personnel with world-class technological equipment to the scene of the disaster.

The equipment includes a life locator – a machine that can accurately detect the presence of life 10m below rubble in three minutes.

Gift of the Givers founder, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, said trauma specialists were also on standby.

However, there was currently restricted entry to Nepal because of the closure of Kathmandu Airport to commercial flights, the availability of visas to a neighbouring country and accessibility to Nepal from there. Sooliman said they were working on alternatives. – Additional reporting by Reuters

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