Kathmandu (dpa)- A Sherpa guide who had been missing on Mount Everest for nearly a week was found alive on Thursday near the base camp of the world's highest peak, ending a search effort that had raised fears for his survival, officials said.
Dawa Sherpa, also known as Hillary Dawa, 57, from eastern Nepal, was last seen around Camp III on May 29 while descending from the mountain after guiding a Polish climber.
According to Khimlal Gautam, chief of the Department of Tourism's Everest base camp office, his office received information about his disappearance on May 30.
An aerial search operation was carried out on Wednesday up to Camp III but failed to locate him.
“We carried out an aerial search yesterday right up to the base camp but couldn't spot him. It is a great relief and good news that he showed up himself,” Gautam told dpa.
The breakthrough came on Thursday when members of the Icefall Doctors team, who were dismantling ropes and ladders and closing the Everest route, spotted Sherpa walking through crevasses near the Khumbu Icefall just above the base camp.
He was airlifted to Kathmandu and is receiving treatment at HAMS Hospital. Officials and expedition operators said he was in good health.
Gautam said rescue efforts were delayed because information about the disappearance arrived late and because of complications related to expedition paperwork.
“He had taken a permit through one company but was climbing with another company. That created complications in the rescue process itself because rescues are expensive operations,” he said.
Lhakpa Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, the company through which Dawa Sherpa had obtained his climbing permit, said search teams had almost lost hope of finding him alive.
“It's a miracle. He said he saw the flying chopper yesterday. It looks like he was tired and took rest. I guess we can call it a self-rescue,” operator Lhakpa Sherpa told dpa.
Operators said that they were unable to spot Dawa Sherpa because he was probably inside crevasses when the search happened.
Details of how Dawa Sherpa survived alone on the mountain for nearly a week remain unclear. He is believed to have used a ladder that his agency had left at the higher camp to cross the crevasses along the Khumbu Icefall.
The incident came as authorities and climbing teams were winding down the 2026 Everest season. According to Gautam, at least 1,000 climbers, including guides, successfully summited the 8,849-metre peak during the 2026 season.
Mount Everest can be climbed from both Nepal and China, but the Tibetan side of the mountain was closed this season.
