Rescue of tourists stranded in Mt. Everest area begins

Tweet

Kathmandu, Nov. 5: Rescue efforts to airlift over 2,500 people, including tourists, their porters and their guides, from Lukla in north-eastern Nepal where they have been stranded for five days, have begun.

According to Saturday’s Republica report, about 100 people were airlifted Friday to Kathmandu by helicopters of commercial airliners from a landing strip located one-and-a-hour trek downhill of Lukla.

Meanwhile, a Nepal Army (NA) helicopter will start rescuing the stranded from Lukla airport from Saturday.

The build-up of stranded people started in Lukla in late- October when only limited flights were operated, also due to bad weather. But from October 31, no flight was conducted at all, thus swelling up the number of visitors in the village, which is a famous gateway to Mt. Everest, also called Mt. Qomolangma.

Xinhua quoted the The Himalayan Rescue Association, as saying that by Friday, there were above 2,000 foreigners and 500 Nepalis stranded there. (ANI)