Manuel Pizarro est sur une lancée vers le sommet, Gabriel Filippi est au camp avancé, pour le reste, on est un peu dans l’attente de nouvelles de la plus haute montagne au monde. Mais la nouvelle qui a pris un peu tout le monde par surprise cette semaine, c’est la mort d’un sherpa au camp de base… après avoir ingurgité de l’alcool frelaté! Si la bouteille portait une étiquette indiquant Nepali Royal Stag Deluxe Whiskey, le contenu était pourtant de l’alcool méthylique. Un deuxième sherpa serait aussi malade pour avoir bu à la même bouteille.

Gavin Bates rapporte : “Unfortunately this wasn’t whiskey at all, it was methanol, part a stock of illegal brew made in Kathmandu and delivered throughout the Khumbu in the last few months. The dealer in Lukla is a Gurung called Lama and so far four other people have died in the region because of this poisoning. At this moment, as I type, I am surrounded by liaison officers and we are calling the police inspector in Namche Bazaar to push for a formal investigation into murder or manslaughter.”

”A few hours after enjoying their late night , Kaji was lying dead on the ice outside and Ngima was fighting for his life. Methanol poisoning is quick and deadly. Within a short time the Indian Army team doctor found Ngima and attempted to help him (he was conscious enough to drink some coffee) but very quickly he was going into renal failure. My staff carried him to the HRA medical emergency tent, and then began the first desperate 24 hours of trying to keep him alive.

Ngima was lucky, he was attended to by some of the finest medical minds in wilderness medicine. Eric and Torrey, who run the HRA here, were immediately forced to think outside the box. This was almost a lost cause from the start, but they persevered with dogged tenacity. Other doctors started to attend the scene – Jeff from Adventure Consultants, Lana from the Croatian team, Melissa from RMI, Donald from Summit Climb and also Felix from the German team.”

”My team here attended round the clock, but we were supported mostly by both Willie and Damien Benegas, who carried out procedures and assisted from beginning to end, eschewing sleep and even their own climbing teams to keep Ngima alive, right up until the moment that we finally loaded him aboard the helicopter this morning. Also worth mentioning is Adele from Jagged Globe who kept on turning up to help at the just the right moment.”

Une enquête est en cours pour le moment. Espérons que cette eau-de-vie qui tue ne se soit pas trop répandue au Camp de base. Je ne crois pas qu’il faille s’inquiéter pour nos Québécois qui sont sur l’Everest, mais vaudrait mieux éviter le ‘shooter’ de la victoire!

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Hier, le 13 mai, Ed Viesturs de l’équipe First Ascent donnait ses prévisions pour un départ du camp de base aujourd’hui et un sommet anticipé pour le 18 mai prochain.