Bristol man found safe after Nepal earthquake

Friends of man from South Gloucestershire, who was feared missing in the chaos following the earthquake in Nepal, say he is safe and well.

28-year-old Sam Bond from Doynton near Wick, could not make contact with his friends and family after the earthquake struck Nepal on Saturday. He was on a trek to Mount Everest Base Camp.

His friends and family launched a social media campaign to try and find him and friend Francesca Baker tweeted on Monday afternoon that he has made contact.

VERY happy to say that Sam Bond, Toni Perry and Eric Schuyler are safe and well in Junbesi – aaaaand breathe. #NepalEarthquake #Nepal

— Francesca Baker (@FrangolinBaker) April 27, 2015

His friends Toni Perry, 37 from Sydney, and Eric Schuyler are also safe.

Meanwhile, a helicopter evacuation has had to be abandoned at Mount Everest Camp One where expedition leader Daniel Mazur from Bristol is trapped.

Helicopters flew to #Everest C1 today, rescuing stranded climbers & Sherpas. @ 1:30pm, clouds & No more helis. Hope for tomorrow.

— Daniel Mazur (@danielmazur) April 27, 2015

Mazur has been stuck at Camp One since the Earthquake on Saturday and said the situation is horrible.

He tweeted on Sunday morning: “Aftershock @ 1pm! Horrible here in camp 1. Avalanches on 3 sides. C1 a tiny island. We worry about icefall team below.. Alive?”

He added in a later tweet that the route down the mountain had been badly damaged by the avalanche.

Daniel Mazur is stuck at Mount Everest Camp One waiting to be evacuated Photo: Daniel Mazur

Disaster teams from the UK are flying out to join in the Nepalese rescue including Bristol-based SARAID which is sending out a team of 14 fully trained rescue technicians carrying 1.5 tonnes of specialist search and support equipment.

Bristol UWE graduate and climber Mollie Hughes became one of the youngest woman to climb Mount Everest in 2012. She said the news coming out of Nepal was “horrendous”.

She described the route from Everest Base Camp to Camp One which goes through the Khumbu Icefall as a “very scary place” and said it is often considered “one of the most dangerous areas of the mountain”.

“Being a glacier, a frozen river, it is very unstable and moves almost a metre a day. You have to travel under, over and around huge blocks of ice (the size of houses) balanced on top of each other. You also cross massive crevasses three or four meters wide on metal ladders.

“Because of the earthquake the whole thing will have been shaken up, causing these precariously balanced blocks of ice to fall, crevasses to open up and ladders and ropes would have been destroyed.  It will take time to re-set a safe route for climbers to come down or for helicopter rescue from Camp One to Base Camp.”

It’s believed that more than 3,000 people have died after the earthquake on Saturday, and a powerful aftershock which struck on Sunday.

The 7.8 magnitude quake hit central Nepal between the capital, Kathmandu, and the city of Pokhara. There have been several aftershocks since then.

The quakes triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest which is believed to have killed 18 people.

Photo credit: Daniel Mazur & Shutterstock