A total of 13 people were crushed to death underneath a fearsome Mount Everest avalanche early this morning – the worst single catastrophe in the iconic mountain’s history.
The victims were all guides – ethnic Sherpas – who were helping climbers set up ropes and other safety measures when the snow rumbled down onto the popular climbing path.
‘It’s absolutely devastating,” survivor Ed Wardle told an NBC affiliate. “The atmosphere here at base camp is one of shock and now of grieving. I believe it’s the worst disaster in Everest history if not all mountaineering.”
Four other guides are still missing and six others are injured, Nepalese officials said.
A group of Sherpas who were working with NBC on an upcoming show for the Discovery Channel all survived the catastrophe, a spokesperson told The Post.
Wingsuit jumper Joby Ogwyn was slated to make his leap in two weeks and is reportedly helping with search and rescue efforts.
“The Sherpa guides were carrying up equipment and other necessities for climbers when the disaster happened,” a spokesman for Nepal’s Tourism Ministry, Mohan Krishna Sapkota, told the AFP news service.
Eight climbers perished in a massive 1996 avalanche and six guides died in a 1970 disaster.
“The avalanche last night on Mt. Everest is a terrible tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers are with those who are lost and with their families,” Discovery Network executive Laurie Goldberg told The Mail.
Long considered one of the greatest mountain climbing challenges, more than 4,000 adventurers have reached Everest’s peak since Edmund Hillary first conquered it in 1953.