2015-04-27 12:18:00

Rescue teams reach stranded climbers on Mount Everest


(Vatican Radio) As the rescue operation continues for survivors following the massive earthquake in Nepal, teams have been trying to reach climbers stranded on Mount Everest.

An avalanche trigged by the quake killed 17 people on the mountain and many climbers remain trapped but safe at camps 1 and 2.

Gianpietro Verza is a mountain guide and the Technical Director of EvK2CNR Research Centre at the foot of Mount Everest.

It is a high altitude centre at 5000 metres and monitors air pollution and seismic activity in the area. He has been in constant contact with the institute on the ground and was able to tell Lydia O’Kane that the weather is “a little bit better,” adding that “ it looks like the climbers stuck at camps 1 and camp 2 … have been fully evacuated , we hope so…” Mr Verza also said that “from base camp also other people that were injured during the avalanche were evacuated.

Listen to Lydia O'Kane's interview with Gianpietro Verza

Climbers at base camp, according to the Technical Director are still worried about avalanches due to the continued seismic activity. He says that experts at the centre think that seismic activity is going to continue in the coming days.

Regarding problems in gaining access to remote villages affected by the disaster, he says that this is of great concern because “there are a lot of remote areas going up to high villages also.” The higher areas of Nepal, the team at the centre suspect, have been damaged due to avalanches but also landslides.

Gianpietro Verza says that the centre’s research would suggest that this disaster is on the same scale as the earthquake that struck Nepal 80 years ago, claiming thousands of lives

 

 








All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.