If the hope of finding alive the three French mountaineers missing in the Everest massif is "almost nil", the research is not about to stop.

A French rescue team will go to Nepal from November 5 to 17 to try to "recover the bodies of our three compatriots buried under an avalanche", declared Lieutenant-Colonel Lionel André, commander of the Technical Coordination Unit of Mountain (UCTM).

The team is made up of 14 people.

Ten rescuers, members of the high mountain gendarmerie platoon (PGHM), two identification experts from the national gendarmerie, a doctor from the high mountain military school, a high mountain guide from the French Federation of Alpine and Mountain Clubs ( FFCAM).

An avalanche dog named Irco

They will also be accompanied by an avalanche dog by the name of Irco and considered as a "tool among others" to find the bodies, according to Lieutenant-Colonel André.

"We do not put all our hopes" on him because, due to the hardness of the snow, there will "not necessarily be smells" to sniff, he said.

The team takes with it some 600 kg of equipment.

They will first have to acclimatize to the altitude before spending “8 to 9 days” on the avalanche site, located in the Khumbu valley, said Lieutenant-Colonel Lionel André.

The last operation of this kind dates back to 2005

Carried away by an avalanche at the end of October, the three mountaineers aged 27 to 34 had undertaken the ascent of the west face of Mingbo Eiger (6,070 meters above sea level).

Initial reconnaissance allowed their traces to be located up to 5,900 meters above sea level.

Initial searches undertaken by Nepalese guides at the start of the week were unsuccessful and were suspended for three or four days on Wednesday.

Members of the National Mountaineering Excellence Group (GEAN), an elite formation of the FFCAM, the mountaineers were part of a team that arrived at the end of September in the Khumbu and Everest region, with the aim of climbing various summits culminating in some 5,000 and 6,000 m, south of Ama Dablam (6,814 m).

The last dispatch of an Alpine rescue team to the Everest region dates back to 2005, according to Lieutenant-Colonel André, when seven French climbers were buried by a deadly avalanche at the foot of Kang Guru (6,981 m).

World

Nepal: Operations to find the three French climbers missing in the Himalayas continue

World

Nepal: three French climbers missing after an avalanche

  • Gendarme

  • Everest

  • Rescue

  • Mountaineer

  • Nepal

  • Avalanche

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