Amid the sea of casualties in today's quake in Nepal are at least 10 that are garnering headlines of their own because of where tragedy befell them: on Everest. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit Nepal in more than eight decades, triggered a deadly avalanche in the Mount Everest region. NBC News reports the country's Tourism Ministry has thus far confirmed that 10 are dead, but the toll could very well rise. Indeed, USA Today reports an unknown number of people are missing, and the AP says some climbers may be cut off on routes leading to the summit. As for the scene at base camp, USA Today points to this from Danish climber Carsten Lillelund Pedersen: "Our Sherpas believe that a lot of people may have been buried in their tents."
The AP spoke with Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association; he says at least 30 tents were flattened at base camp. Reuters quotes ministry officials as saying at least 1,000 people, about 40% of them foreigners, were on the mountain when the quake hit. The confirmed deaths establish today as at least the second deadliest day on the mountain. Exactly 51 weeks ago, 16 sherpas died on Everest, doubling the toll experienced in the previous worst day, the 1996 incident captured in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. The AP reports today's avalanche began on Mount Kumori, a 22,966-foot-high mountain just a few miles from Everest, and grew stronger as it barreled toward the base camp. (More earthquake stories.)
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