Sherpa helps Malaysian climber in rare Everest ‘death zone’ rescue

Kathmandu: A Malaysian climber narrowly survived after a Nepali sherpa guide hauled him down from below the summit of Mount Everest in a “very rare” high altitude rescue, a government official said on Wednesday.

Gelje Sherpa (pic), 30, was guiding a Chinese client to the 8,849m (29,032ft) Everest summit on May 18 when he saw the Malaysian climber clinging to a rope and shivering from extreme cold in the area called the “death zone”, where temperatures can dip to minus 30°C (86°F) or lower.