Missing Everest Sherpa found alive after six days in miracle rescue

A 52-year-old Nepali Sherpa guide who went missing on Mount Everest was found alive six days later, stunning rescuers and family members who had feared he was dead.

Dawa Sherpa, an experienced mountain guide, had been returning with a Polish climber after an unsuccessful attempt to reach Everest's 29,032-foot summit when he went missing between Camp III and Camp IV.

He was last seen on May 29. While the climber safely returned to base camp, Dawa never arrived, and the circumstances surrounding their separation remain unclear.

As days passed with no sign of the veteran guide, hopes of finding him alive began to fade. The climbing season was drawing to a close, routes were being dismantled, and most mountaineers had already left the mountain.

Initial search operations failed to locate him, prompting his family to begin traditional funeral rituals after fearing the worst.

The breakthrough came unexpectedly when members of a clean-up team working on Everest's lower slopes spotted a lone figure struggling through the snow above the notoriously dangerous Khumbu Icefall.

The team, assigned to remove ropes, ladders and debris left behind after the climbing season, soon realised the exhausted climber was Dawa. He was still wearing his climbing jacket and somehow had survived days alone on the mountain.

The location where he was found, far from where he was last seen, suggested he had covered a considerable distance across the treacherous terrain while battling freezing temperatures and severe oxygen deprivation.

Weak, frostbitten and barely able to move, Dawa was brought down from the mountain before being airlifted to Kathmandu for emergency treatment.

Doctors are treating him for frostbite and other complications caused by prolonged exposure to extreme high-altitude conditions.

His daughter, Mendo Lhamu Sherpa, said the family was overwhelmed with relief after learning he had survived.

"He recognised me and speaks. We are happy," she told Reuters.

The family had already begun mourning his presumed death and initially struggled to believe reports that he had been rescued. Relatives reportedly sought photographic proof before accepting that the man found on Everest was indeed Dawa.

Mountaineering officials described the survival as extraordinary, saying Dawa endured nearly a week alone in one of the harshest environments on Earth.

"Dawa survived alone for nearly a week without food, water, or supplemental oxygen navigating the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, even after the fixed ladders were removed for the season," a Nepal-based Everest expedition company said in a social media post. "This is nothing short of a miracle."

The dramatic rescue comes at the end of one of Everest's busiest climbing seasons on record.

More than 1,000 climbers and guides successfully reached the summit this year after Nepal issued a record 494 climbing permits. The season, however, also saw tragedy. According to officials, five climbers and guides lost their lives on the mountain.

Earlier this year, hundreds of climbers were stranded at base camp after a massive block of glacial ice delayed the opening of the route to the world's highest peak by nearly two weeks.