‘Fear and panic’ as COVID ravages Nepali villages near Mt Everest

Sherpa villages in the lap of Mount Everest are reeling from COVID-19 as climbing season ends on world’s highest peak.

Kathmandu, Nepal – When Saraswati Tamang Karki fell ill with COVID-19 in a small village near Mount Everest, her family had to call on Nepalese soldiers and trekking guides to help take her to the nearest doctor. On June 11, a group of 13 men took turns carrying the 44-year-old on a stretcher, hurrying up and down the narrow and winding dirt paths that lead from the village of Monju to the Pasang Lhamu Nicole Niquille Hospital in the nearby town of Lukla. They made the 15-kilometre (nine-mile) trip in less than four hours, but they were too late.