Nepal names airport after Everest duo

KATHMANDU: The government of Nepal says that the closest airport to Mount Everest has been renamed to honour the first two men known to have climbed the mountain.

The minister of culture and tourism said the cabinet had decided that Lukla airstrip will now be known as Tenzing Hillary Airport.

It commemorates the Nepali Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay and the New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary. They climbed the peak in 1953. Sir Edmund died last month in New Zealand.

The Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prithvi Subba Gurung, said the trail from Lukla to Everest base camp would now be called the Tenzing Hillary Trekking Route and that research was in progress to name a mountain after the two explorers.