Sherpa Guide Rescued After Week-Long Ordeal on Everest

A Sherpa guide who vanished on Mount Everest last week was found alive, crawling toward base camp after surviving nearly a full week without food, water, or supplemental oxygen. Rescuers described his survival as “nothing short of a miracle.”

Dawa Sherpa, 52, went missing around May 29 while descending the mountain after turning back short of the summit with a Polish climber he was guiding. The client reached base camp safely, but Dawa did not, prompting fears that he had perished.

A cleanup crew from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee discovered him on Thursday morning, crawling through the hazardous Khumbu Icefall, just above base camp, according to Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, who spoke to The Associated Press.

Rescuers carried Dawa to safety, provided food and water, and air‑lifted him by helicopter to a hospital in Kathmandu, where his wife and daughter were waiting.

Medics take Dawa Sherpa, a mountain guide who had been missing for several days in the Everest region, for treatment after he arrived at HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, on June 4, 2026. (Niranjan Shrestha/AP)

By the time he was rescued, his family had already begun funeral rites.

His teenage daughter, Mendo Lhamu Sherpa, said relatives were in the middle of the ceremonies when news of the rescue broke.

“When we first heard about the rescue, we could not be sure if the person was our father,” she told Reuters. “We asked for photos, and once we saw them we were certain and overjoyed.”

His wife, Damu Sherpa, said the family learned he was alive through local news reports and a phone call from a friend.

“We first heard that he was still alive on the local news and from a person we know who called with the news that… he is being brought down,” she said.

Dawa was still wearing his climbing jacket when rescuers found him. He is being treated for frostbite and other complications but remains conscious and able to speak.

“He recognized me… is good and speaks,” his daughter told Reuters.

The Nepal Mount Everest hiking company called his survival extraordinary.

“Dawa survived alone for nearly a week without food, water, or supplemental oxygen, navigating the treacherous Khumbu Icefall even after the fixed ladders were removed for the season,” the company said in a social‑media post.

Tents are set up at Everest Base Camp in the Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, on April 13, 2026. (Purnima Shrestha/Reuters)

The circumstances of Dawa’s separation from his client during the descent remain unclear, as does the delay in launching a search when he went missing. Helicopters were eventually deployed but failed to locate him.

His rescue came at the end of a record‑breaking Everest climbing season, during which more than 1,000 climbers and guides reached the summit after Nepal issued a record 494 permits.

Officials have confirmed that five climbers and guides died on Everest this season, according to Reuters.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source link