Death toll climbs to at least 13 in worst tragedy on Mount Everest

Rescuers have recovered the body of another mountain guide after an ice avalanche swept the lower slopes of Mount Everest. The death toll is now at least 13 Officials say three are still missing. All of the victims were Sherpa mountain guides. The avalanche struck a perilous passage called the Khumbu Icefall, which is riddled with crevasses and huge chunks of ice – that can break free without warning. It was first major avalanche of this year’s climbing season on Everest, which has been scaled by more than 4,000 climbers. Some 250 mountaineers have died on the mountain, which is on the border between Nepal and the Chinese region of Tibet and can be climbed from both sides in a season that is cut short in late May by rainy-season clouds cloaking the Himalayas.