A Nepali climbing guide survived nearly a week stranded on Mount Everest by chewing ice and eating chocolates he found in his pocket, his family said he was discriminated against because he is a local guide.
Hillary Dawa Sherpa, a climbing guide, was last seen on 29 May by former British soldier Chris Thrall near Camp 3 at around 7,500m (24,600ft). Thrall descended to help a Polish climber with severe frostbite and no oxygen. When he looked back, Dawa was not behind him.
“Nepali guide Hillary Dawa Sherpa survived six days on Everest by chewing ice and eating chocolate.”
Dawa told BBC Nepali his oxygen ran out. "I couldn't walk," he said. "I didn't eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice. It hurt my teeth." He later found chocolates in his pocket and melted ice to drink.
He descended slowly but fell into a crevasse and was trapped for two and a half days. An avalanche sent snow into the crevasse, allowing him to step on it and climb out. He found ropes and continued down, walking through the night.
On Thursday morning, a cleaning crew spotted him crawling back to Base Camp near the Khumbu Icefall. He was airlifted to Hams Hospital in Kathmandu, where he is being treated for frostbite, dehydration, and a fractured bone.
"I didn't think I would be alive," he told BBC Nepali. "I thought I would perish this way."
His family had begun arranging funeral rituals before he was found. They have filed a police complaint against his employer, Himalayan Traverse, and a grievance with Nepal's Department of Tourism, alleging negligence and delayed rescue because he is a local guide.
"Action needs to be taken by the mountaineering department. It was negligence of the company that resulted in so much delay in starting rescue," said his nephew, Karma Gelje Sherpa.
Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, overseeing the rescue, told AFP the guide was found "crawling down" with "some frostbite" but otherwise in good health.