Nepal: France sends help to find the three French climbers

Europe 1 07:32, 05 November 2021

A rescue team made up of high mountain gendarmes, experts and an avalanche dog left for Nepal on Friday to search for the bodies of three young French climbers missing in the Everest massif, he said. we learned Thursday from a manager.

This team of 14 people will travel from 5 to 17 November in Nepal to try to "recover the bodies of our three compatriots buried under an avalanche", declared to AFP the lieutenant-colonel Lionel André, commander of the Unit of Mountain technical coordination (UCTM).

>> READ ALSO -

 Nepal: what we know about the disappearance of the three French climbers

Among them, ten rescuers, members of the high mountain gendarmerie platoon (PGHM).

They will first have to acclimatize to the altitude before spending "8 to 9 days" on the avalanche site, located in the Khumbu valley, he said.

The team includes 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) ​​and a dog handler.

They will take with them some 600 kilos of equipment.

Carried away by an avalanche at the end of October

The avalanche dog that responds to Irco's name is considered one "tool among others" to find bodies, according to Lieutenant-Colonel André. "We don't put all our hopes" on him because, due to the hardness of the snow, there "won't necessarily be any smells" to sniff out, he said. 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 an altitude of 5,900 meters.

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).