Hope fades for missing Quebec climber in Nepal
Police in Nepal say there is very little chance of finding a Quebec cardiologist missing after a weekend avalanche on the world's eighth-highest mountain.
Searchers resumed the search Tuesday for Dr. Dominique Ouimet, 48, and two French mountaineers, who were among about two dozen climbers camped on 8,156-metre-high Mount Manaslu in northern Nepal when the avalanche hit their tents at 4 a.m. local time Sunday.
The bodies of eight climbers, including four French, and one person each from Germany, Italy and Spain, have been recovered. A guide from Nepal also died. Reports Monday indicated rescuers were trying to recover a ninth body.
Quebec man among missing after deadly Nepal avalanche
Many of the 10 people who survived the avalanche were injured and taken to hospital.
Police fear the missing climbers were swept away and slid into a crevasse.
Local police Chief Basanta Bahadur Kunwar said it is very unlikely the missing climbers will be found.
"If we don't find them now, we may be able to find them when the snow melts," Kunwar said, according to a Radio-Canada report.
A total of 231 people, including climbers and guides, were on the mountain on Sunday, but not all were near the camp where the avalanche struck. Ouimet was at Camp 3, located at approximately 6,800 metres, and was preparing to reach the summit.
"A huge amount of snow crashed off the mountain and swept right through Camp 3," freelance reporter Tom Bell told CBC News from Kathmandu. "Some of the survivors were carried for hundreds of metres inside their tents."
Another Canadian who was on the mountain, Greg Hill from Revelstoke, B.C., survived the avalanche and helped with the rescue.
Ouimet, an experienced climber who had already summited a number of peaks around the world, was trying to beat his altitude record of 6,960 metres, according to his sister, Isabel. He was also using the expedition to raise money for St-Jérôme Regional Hospital north of Montreal where he worked.
In an interview with Radio-Canada last week, Ouimet said the climb was going "well enough," and that he was glad to combine his love of climbing with fundraising.
