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Nearly 1,400 killed in Nepal quake; Google executive among dead
KATHMANDU, Nepal – An avalanche triggered by a massive earthquake swept across Nepal’s Mount Everest region on Saturday, killing at least 10 climbers and guides, slamming into a section of the mountaineering base camp, and leaving an unknown number of people injured and missing, officials said.
Numerous climbers may now be cut off on routes leading to the top of the world’s highest peak.
The avalanche began on Mount Kumori, a 7,000-meter (22,966-foot) -high mountain just a few miles (kilometers) fromEverest, gathering strength as it headed toward the base camp where climbing expeditions have been preparing to make their summit attempts in the coming weeks, said Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.
The avalanche – or perhaps a series of avalanches hidden in a massive white cloud – plowed into a part of base camp, a sprawling seasonal village of climbers, guides and porters, flattening at least 30 tents, Tshering said. With communication very limited at Everest, it was not immediately clear how many of those injured and killed were at base camp, and how many were elsewhere on the mountain.