By Rup Narayan Dhakal : Pokhara—Eight mountaineers including five Korean and three Nepali were found dead in the base camp of Gurja Himal on Saturday. A nine member team including 5 Koreans and 4 Nepalese had gone missing due to blizzard while they were camping in base camp (3,500m), government ward chairman Jhak Bahadur Chhantyal confirmed.
Gurja Himal (7,193) is situated in Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality- 1 of Myagdi district in Gandaki Province. The base camp is in five hours walking distance from Gurja village. It takes almost two days to reach Gurja Village from district headquarter Myagdi.
Team leader Kim Chang-ho, Lee Jaehun, Rim Il-jin, Yoo Youngjik, Jeong Joon-mo, Nepali climbers Chhiring Bhote and Lakpa Sangbu Bhote, Natra Bahadur Chantel and Phurbu Bhote were in the expedition team.
According to information, one Nepali supporter is still missing after the incident. It is still unclear that when the incident happened but it has been assumed that the incident took place on Friday. Rescue team is struggling to take out the dead bodies as they have been dispersed by the wind blows.
A Nepali national and Korean had left for base camp to meet the mountaineering team on October 10 but they didn’t come back in stipulated time and also went contact less. Then a team of villagers had also gone to base camp where they found dead bodies of the climbing team headed by Korean national Kim Chang Ho.
District Police Office Myagdi DSP Bir Bahadur Budha Magar informed that a helicopter was sent to incident site following the information about dead body but that couldn’t land there. The climbing team was scheduled to ascend from south flank of the Gurja Himal.
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