Families of the three Nepali guides who are still missing after an avalanche killed 13 other guides and support staff on the slopes of Mount Everest last Friday have appealed to the government to continue its search, hoping that their loved ones could still be alive.
In an interview with Xinhua Wednesday, Menuka Gurung, wife of missing climber Ash Bahadur Gurung, said she wants to see her husband's face, alive or dead, at least one last time.
Menuka said her husband, a professional mountain climber, always dreamt of reaching the summit of Mount Everest and he told her he would succeed.
"Now that he is missing, we have been informed that the organization he was working with will take care of our children's education but I do not know what will happen to us in the future," she said.
Menuka is from a remote village in the Gorkha District, 140 km west of Kathmandu. She met her husband in school when they were both teenagers. After being granted permission from their respective families they got married.
"Ours was a love marriage," Menuka said. She is a plain housewife and never completed her studies. Her husband was the breadwinner of the family, while she would stay at home and take care of their two children.
Ash Bahadur Gurung worked as a mountain guide with the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association (NNMGA). An expert climber, he spent most of his days in the wilds for an average income of around 5,000 U.S dollars a year, a considerable amount in Nepal. The hard-earned money permitted him to support his extended family as well.
"Since he went missing I cry every day. If his body is found we will stop hoping and he will rest in peace," Jit Raj Gurung, father of Ash Bahadur Gurung, told Xinhua.
The search mission for the three missing climbers was called off at the weekend because of poor weather conditions.
But Madhu Sudan Burlakoti, joint secretary at the Ministry of Tourism, assured the families that the search is still ongoing and was only suspended because of bad weather.
The avalanche over the weekend was considered to be the single deadliest accident in modern mountaineering on Mount Everest. The guides had climbed up the slope early on Friday morning to fix ropes for climbers and prepare the route for the upcoming climbing season.
Following the accident, local guides and support staff have threatened to boycott the upcoming spring climbing season if their demands are not met by the government.
On Tuesday, at a meeting held at the Ministry of Tourism, government officials addressed some of the issues affecting local mountaineers and the victims' families.
Each family of the deceased will be provided with 15,789 U.S. dollars whereas the injured will receive 4,000 U.S. dollars.
According to government officials, 334 mountaineers have been issued permits to attempt to climb Everest this season.
Since Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary first conquered the roof of the world in 1953, more than 4, 000 climbers have reached the Everest summit, the world's highest peak. But more than 200 have died trying to fulfill their dream of reaching the top.
