Overview
- Dawa (Hillary) Sherpa was found crawling near the Khumbu Icefall on June 4 and was flown to Kathmandu’s HAMS Hospital where doctors treated him for frostbite, dehydration and a fractured thigh bone.
- He told rescuers he ran out of supplemental oxygen during the descent, spent two days trapped in a crevasse near Camp 1, and survived by chewing ice and eating small packets of chocolate and biscuits.
- Family members have filed a police complaint accusing his operator, Himalayan Traverse, of negligence and of failing to mount a timely search, while 8K Expeditions says responsibility for the rescue lay with the smaller operator that held the clients.
- Aerial searches led by 8K failed to locate him and he was ultimately found by a Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee clean-up team on foot, raising questions about how rescue coordination and insurance responsibilities are managed on Everest.
- The episode comes after a record busy season with nearly 500 permits and reports that SPCC planned to remove ladders and fixed lines at the end of May, a timing critics say concentrates risk for Sherpas and clients and has prompted calls for an official investigation.