Monday, May 09, 2005
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KATHMANDU: Climber Pierre Bourdeau was sleeping on the slopes of Mount Everest when the massive avalanche struck, plowing through his tent with chunks of ice and throwing him 100 metres before burying him alive. "I thought I was dead when I got hit on the head. All I could think was which piece will kill me," Mr. Bourdeau, an accountant from Montreal, Canada, told presspersons. Still in his sleeping bag, Mr. Bourdeau raised a hand above the drift and felt the air, realising then that he was not going to suffocate. None of the five people at the camp was killed in Thursday's avalanche which swept through the first of four bivouacs set up between Everest's base camp and the mountain's 8,850-metresummit. Bad weather next day prevented a rescue helicopter from reaching the group for two days. Mr. Bourdeau and the four others — including a fellow Canadian, two Americans and a Sherpa guide — were evacuated by helicopter on Saturday to the capital Kathmandu from the base camp.They received initial first aid treatment at a makeshift hospital at base camp for injuries ranging from bruises and scratches to possible broken ankles and fingers."Our Sherpas had pitched the tents away from mountain walls where it was most unlikely to be hit," he said. "Never thought it would hit on that place." Climbers set up the camps on the trail stocking them with food, sleeping bags and oxygen tanks for the climb.The snow mass was so big it destroyed about 50 tents at camp one which is spread across a space of 400 metres by 200 metres area.His Sherpa guide Durga, who was in the next tent, suffered back injuries. Soon after the snow settled, members of an Iranian expedition — including a doctor — approached Mr. Bourdeau.
AP
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