Nepal to use DNA to identify bodies found in Everest

June 9, 2019

AFP: The bodies of four climbers who failed their Everest challenge and left little clue as to their identity have thrown up a new challenge for Nepalese authorities who control the world’s tallest peak.

Police and government officials admit they face a huge challenge putting names to the dead climbers and sending them back to their home countries.

They cannot even be sure how long the corpses had been among scores waiting to be found on the slopes.

A government-organised clean-up team retrieved the bodies between the Everest base camp and the South Col at 7,906 metres this climbing season.

“The bodies are not in a recognisable state, almost down to their bones. There is no face to identify them,” senior police official Phanindra Prasai told AFP.

“We have directed the hospital to collect DNA samples so they can be matched with any families who come forward.”

Everest afterlife

Nepalese police are going through administrative processes so they can make an appeal for help and inform foreign diplomatic missions about the bodies. But some fear the mystery could take years to solve.

“It is a difficult task,” said Ang Tsering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

“They need to share more information about the bodies, especially the locations of where the bodies were found, and reach out to expedition operators.”

More than 300 people have died on the 8,848-metre (29,029-feet) high mountain since expeditions to reach the top started in the 1920s.

It is not known how many bodies are still hidden in the ice, snow and deep crevasses.