A British climber and his guide have gone missing on Mount Everest after the expedition they were part of was hit by an icefall.
Daniel Paul Paterson and his guide Pas Tenji Sherpa were on their way down from the summit when the incident happened.
The pair were last heard around the time they reached the summit, at about 4.40am local time on May 21, according to Khim Lal Gautam, a Nepalese mountaineer and Chief Survey Officer in the Survey Department within the Government of Nepal.
Nearly 200 climbers reached the summit on Tuesday alone amid favourable weather conditions.
The 40-year-old UK national and the 23-year-old guide were part of a 15-member team with 8K Expeditions being led by the Bolivian climber David Hugo Ayaviri Quispe.
A member of Mr Gautam’s team said: “A cornice broke off and washed down a few climbers including Daniel and his guide towards the Tibet side.”
Mr Paterson’s love for climbing is apparent in his public social media posts. Last week, he shared on Instagram an update on the base camp he was staying, saying it was “literally a mini city” and a “logistical masterpiece”.
A search and rescue mission including six climbing guides has been dispatched. However, fears about the wellbeing of the pair are quickly growing due to the area where they went missing.
Climbers like Mr Paterson and his guide who ascend higher than 26,000 feet on Mount Everest enter the so-called “death zone”, where the pressure of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for prolonged periods of time.
Earlier this month, Mongolian climbers Usukhjargal Tsedendamba and Purevsuren Lkhagvajav went missing on Mount Everest after reaching the summit without the support of sherpas.
They were found dead a week later at 28,707 feet and 27,230 feet.