Covid risk halts bid to scale Everest

(File photo) Mount Everest, the world highest peak, and other peaks of the Himalayan range are seen through an aircraft window during a mountain flight from Kathmandu, Nepal, recently. (REUTERS)

An international expedition yesterday abandoned its attempt to scale Mount Everest, citing risks posed by an increasing number of Covid-19 cases at the base camp, the organisers said. Some climbers were evacuated from Everest base camp in April after they fell ill with Covid-19 symptoms as Nepal battles a brutal second wave of infections. Lukas Furtenbach, of Austrian expedition organising company Furtenbach Adventures, said his team of climbers from America, Norway, Israel, Germany, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and Romania were abandoning the climb for safety reasons as the number of Covid-19 infections at the base camp was increasing. “To climb...with these massively increasing coronavirus numbers and risk the lives of our 20 climbers, four mountain guides and 27 Sherpas carelessly, would be irresponsible,” Furtenbach said in a statement. Infections at Everest base camp have surged as “elementary precautionary measures were simply not observed” by some teams, he said, without naming any expeditions. Tendi Sherpa of the Iceland Trekking and Expedition company, which provided local support to the team, confirmed climbers were returning for fear of the disease. Department of tourism director Mira Acharya said she had no information of any expedition evacuating due to Covid-19 fears. “Doctors at the base camp said the situation was not as serious as it was reported,” she said.”I did not see any terrible situation there,” said Acharya, who returned this week after overseeing preparations at the base camp. Nepal has reported 447,704 coronavirus cases and 4,856 deaths, according to government data.