Nepal Earthquake: Dead & buried at Everest still unaccounted for; water, sanitation major concern

There are two kinds of dead at the Everest base camp. Those whose bodies were visible on the snow or protruding out after the avalanche struck, and those who have been buried deep in the earth.

While many belonging to the former category have been retrieved and brought to Lukla and are on way to be handed over to their respective families around the world, most from the latter group, rescuers fear, may never be retrieved. Many of them have, in fact, got buried along with their tents and others while trying to escape the earthquake-induced falling mass of snow and ice.

There were close to 1,400 people at the Everest base camp, including 422 climbers and close to 600 Sherpas. In addition, there were other support staff of private trekking companies and expedition groups of the Indian and British army Gurkha regiments. There were also close to 100 people higher up – at Camp 1 and 2, which went unscathed. Both the camps have now been completely evacuated.

But it is the fate of those buried under the snow that remains uncertain. "When the avalanche struck the base camp, a lot of people made the mistake of running into their tents when they should have taken shelter behind big rocks. The tents tethered to smaller rocks were a death trap. First snow buried the tents and then the force of the avalanche broke the rock which fell on the tents burying them deeper. There is no chance these people would survive now. Retrieving their bodies will also be a major challenge," says Colonel (Retd) Neeraj Rana, an ex-armyman from India who was on the way down from the base camp when the earthquake struck.

Climbers coming down from base camp also recount many people who jumped into the deep crevasses when the avalanche struck the base camp. Many of the crevasses around the base camp run deep into the glacier. Anyone falling into them risks serious injuries.

Those who avoid injuries are embedded so deep in the glacier that it is hard for airborne rescue teams to spot them. While some crevasses around the base camp are V-shaped, others have bigger bases which run many miles inside the glacier. The fate of those who fell or jumped into crevasses still remains uncertain. Many of them have been presumed dead by rescuers.

There is also deep uncertainty about the fate of Sherpas who went walking down in the aftermath of the avalanche at the base camp. Climbers coming from base camp recount tales of Sherpa porters and guides walking down the Khumbu Glacier after the avalanche in the evening. That is when the sunshine is direct on the glacier. The direct sunshine on the glacier melts the ice and given the numerous crevasses, walking down the Khumbu glacier is an extremely risky proposition.

The Khumbu glacier joins the Everest base camp at 5,364 metres to Dhugla 4,620 metres. The dangerous evening trek down the Khumbu glacier from the base camp to Dhugla for an experienced Sherpa takes anywhere between two to three hours. Most European climbers prefer to climb to the Everest base camp from Gorak Shep (5,140 metres) when there is a shadow on the Khumbu glacier. The sun starts shining around 10 am on the huge mass of ice. There is deep uncertainty about the fate of many Sherpas who undertook that journey after the avalanche struck in the afternoon.

What has made things even more opaque is the lackadaisical response of the Nepalese government in the face of deep tragedy in this remote Everest region. There is yet no consolidated list of people who are unaccounted for at the base camp. Private trekking companies who take expeditions abroad have accounted for their clients in isolation. The fate of those buried deep in the ice remains as uncertain as the weather in the Everest region.