Three unidentified bodies were discovered by mountain guides in Nepal, in the area where three young French mountaineers disappeared on October 26 after an avalanche in the Everest region, local police told AFP on Monday.
“We received the information that local mountain guides found three bodies,” said Rishi Raj Dhakal, inspector and spokesperson for the Solukhumbu District Police Office.
The bodies were discovered "roughly in the same area where the research was carried out" of the three missing young French mountaineers, he said. "A helicopter accompanied by a rescue team made up of professional mountain guides were dispatched to bring back these bodies", continued the police officer. “We cannot confirm the identity of these bodies at this time. If the weather remains favorable, the mountain guides will collect the bodies, ”he added.
The head of operations of Kailash Helicopter Services has confirmed the dispatch of one of its aircraft.
"Our helicopter went there to recover the bodies," Shree Hari Kuikel told AFP.
Search operations for Louis Pachoud, Gabriel Miloche and Thomas Arfi, French mountaineers missing since October 26, began following an avalanche during their ascent of the west face of the Mingbo Eiger culminating at an altitude of 6,070 meters. .
"The hope of finding survivors is now almost nil"
Ang Norbu, sherpa and head of the search and rescue operation, said his team of five mountain guides was to be joined last Saturday by experienced international mountain guides from France.
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).
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Nepal: how French rescuers go to search for the bodies of the three missing climbers
"The hope of finding survivors is now almost nil," FFCAM said last Monday.
The last telephone contact with the young people from their bivouac dates back to October 26, according to the Federation.
“The reconnaissance by helicopter dispatched by the FFCAM on Sunday, October 31 in the morning, as well as the flight over their track on Monday, November 1, made it possible to locate their tracks up to 5,900 meters on the ridge leading to the summit.
At this altitude, the rescuers were able to observe the outbreak of an avalanche, ”added the FFCAM.
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.