Nepal: the bodies of three French climbers have been found

Published on : 08/11/2021 – 11:24

Two weeks after their disappearance following an avalanche in the Everest region, the bodies of three French climbers were found in Nepal.

“The professional rescue team transported the bodies of the three missing French climbers to Lukla,” said Rishi Raj Dhakal, inspector and spokesperson for the Solukhumbu district police office. “The police station has completed all the legal procedures it is required to do here,” the officer continued, “the bodies will now be transported to Kathmandu for an autopsy.”

The bodies were discovered “roughly in the same area where the research was conducted” of the three missing young French mountaineers, the police officer said earlier in the morning. For his part, Ang Norbu Sherpa, head of the rescue team, confirmed having “brought three bodies to Lukla from the area close to the slope of the north face of Mingmo Eiger”.

But he refused to confirm that it was indeed the missing French. “We cannot confirm the identity of the bodies because we are not authorized to do so,” he said, “there is a separate process to identify or confirm it.”

Seasoned mountaineers

After two days of interruption, the search resumed Friday to find Louis Pachoud, Gabriel Miloche and Thomas Arfi, missing since October 26, following an avalanche during their ascent of the west face of Mingbo Eiger culminating at 6,070 meters above sea level.

Members of the National Mountaineering Excellence Group (GEAN), an elite formation of the French Federation of Alpine and Mountain Clubs (FFCAM), the young mountaineers were part of a team that arrived at the end of September, in the Khumbu region and Everest, with the aim of climbing various peaks culminating at some 5,000 and 6,000 m, south of Ama Dablam (6,814 m).

Nepal reopened its doors in September to foreign climbers, exempting those vaccinated from quarantine. The Covid-19 pandemic brought the tourism industry to a halt last year in the country of 30 million people, devastating its heavily dependent economy.

With AFP