Saturday’s devastating earthquake in Nepal has been followed by several large aftershocks, leaving climbers stranded by avalanches on Mount Everest and tourists scrambling for a place to stay down below.
Danish mountaineer Carsten Small Lund Pedersen has vowed that he will stay on Mount Everest and help those that need it.
“As long as it’s safe and there is food and fuel, then I’m staying,” Pedersen told DR Nyheder.
Pedersen is located at Everest Basecamp One.
“Thank God that the avalanches did not reach base camp,” Pedersen wrote in a Facebook update. “We think of many of those caught up in the mountains as friends.”
Space in the garden
Meanwhile down below at the Danish Embassy in Nepal, Kirsten Geelan, the Danish ambassador to Nepal, has offered space to Danes needing a place to bunk on the embassy grounds in Katmandu.
“The aftershocks have inspired us to offer space at the embassy,” said Geelan. “Remember, the Nepalese sleep outside and not many have headed back to their houses.”
At last count, 30 young Danish backpackers were sleeping in the embassy garden.
Geelan said that the embassy has been in contact with 150 of the Danes currently in Nepal.
“We are not exactly sure how many Danes are currently in Nepal,” said Geelan.
