Missing Sherpa guide found alive on Everest after funeral rites had begun

Key points

• A Nepali guide who was believed to have died on Mount Everest has been found crawling to base camp a week after going missing – and after his funeral rites had begun.
• Dawa Sherpa, also known as Hillary Dawa Sherpa after the famous climber Edmund Hillary, was last seen on 29 May but did not reach base camp with other climbing groups.
• A fellow climber said he was last seen around the “death zone” region of the world’s highest mountain, where the pressure is so low that oxygen levels are insufficient for sustained human survival.
• A helicopter rescue team had failed to find the 52-year-old, but Dawa Sherpa was located on Thursday morning, according to Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, which coordinated the search.
• A climbing support team found him as he crawled down the snowy slopes around the Khumbu icefall, just above base camp, said Pemba Sherpa.