Overview
- Hillary Dawa Sherpa, a 52-year-old Nepali guide, was found crawling near the Khumbu Icefall and evacuated to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu after surviving six days without food or supplemental oxygen.
- He told reporters he chewed ice for hydration, ate chocolates found in his pocket, spent about two and a half days trapped in a crevasse and escaped after an avalanche shifted snow beneath him.
- The clean-up team that discovered him alerted rescuers and a helicopter flew him to Kathmandu on Thursday, June 4, where doctors are treating frostbite, dehydration and a suspected fractured bone.
- Dawa’s family have filed a police complaint against his employer, Himalayan Traverse, and lodged a formal grievance with Nepal’s Department of Tourism alleging the company and officials delayed the search because he was a local guide.
- The case highlights strain on Everest rescue coordination during a busy climbing season, raising fresh calls to clarify permit, company and rescue responsibilities and to improve protections for Nepali guides.