Five Korean climbers and their guides killed in Himalayas

File picture: AP

File picture: AP

Published Oct 14, 2018

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Kathmandu - Five South Korean climbers and

their four Nepali guides have been killed after their base camp

in the Himalayas was ravaged by a storm, local police and hiking

officials said on Sunday.

The disaster, which claimed the life of record-breaking

Korean climber Kim Chang-ho, is the worst climbing accident to

hit the Himalayan nation in two years.

Police official Bir Bahadur Budhamagar said rescuers helped

by locals retrieved the bodies of the nine climbers on Sunday

from near their basecamp at Mount Gurja, a 7,193 metre-high peak

(23,600 feet), located roughly 216 km (135 miles) northwest of

Nepal's capital, Kathmandu.

"The bodies of all five Koreans and four Nepalis have been

identified," Budhamagar told Reuters from Myagdi district where

the disaster took place.

On Saturday, police said locals had spotted seven bodies on

the mountain slopes, but emergency workers were unable to

retrieve them due to bad weather.

The Korean expedition was being led by Chang-ho, who set the

record in 2013 for being the fastest to reach the summits of the

world's 14 highest mountains without using supplemental oxygen,

according to climbing officials.

The victims included a four-man Korean team to the Gurja

mountain. They were at the base camp located at 3,500 metres at the time of the storm. The fifth Korean was a

trekker, who joined the group, according to hiking officials.

Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains

including Mount Everest, and the autumn climbing season is now

at its peak. Income from foreign climbers is a major source of

revenue for the cash-strapped nation. 

Reuters

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