An Indian-German climber and his Nepali Sherpa guide died Saturday night after an avalanche buried their tent at Camp III on Mount Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest peak which brings this autumn's death toll on the mountain to four.
The deaths came after the pair pushed ahead to Camp III despite worsening weather and heavy snowfall that had already forced six other members of their expedition to return back .
The victims were identified as Dhruba Jyoti Guha, a German national of Indian origin, and his Nepali guide, Phursemba Sherpa, an experienced mountaineer from the Makalu region.
"A heavy avalanche fell above their tent and both the climbers were buried in the snow," Lamsal said. "Six other climbers from the company who decided to retreat from Camp 2 were safe, but the two who made the attempt in a hurry despite the bad weather condition met with the accident."
Four Sherpa climbers were sent to search for the pair once contact was lost. They found the tent buried under roughly seven feet of snow at Camp III, an altitude of about 6,800 metres. The bodies were dug out and moved to a safe location, with plans to transport them by helicopter to Kathmandu on Monday.
