Search Resumes for Missing Sherpa Avalanche Victims - Voice of America

Sherpas assisted by helicopters have resumed the search for four men missing after a massive avalanche that killed at least 12 Nepali guides early Friday.

An estimated 100 climbers on Mount Everest are reported still stranded Saturday above the site of the avalanche.

Three Sherpa guides were injured in what is believed to be the worst-ever climbing disaster on the world's tallest peak.

Nepal's Tourism Ministry said the Sherpas, renowned for their climbing skills, set out to fix ropes for other climbers when disaster struck at 5,800 meters at a site known to climbers as the "popcorn field."

The avalanche struck ahead of the peak climbing season with hundreds of climbers and guides at the mountain's base camp preparing to climb the 8,850-meter peak in the coming weeks. Weather conditions are at their most favorable in early May.

More than 4,000 climbers have scaled Mount Everest since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay completed the first ascent in 1953. Nearly 250 people have died trying.

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