A Sherpa guide whose family had already begun funeral rituals after he vanished on Mount Everest was found alive and crawling toward base camp nearly a week later, surviving alone on the world's highest peak without food, water or supplemental oxygen in what rescuers called "nothing short of a miracle."Dawa Sherpa, 52, disappeared around May 29 while descending Everest after turning back short of the summit with a Polish climber he was guiding.The client made it safely to base camp, but Dawa had not, triggering fears that he had died on the mountain.A cleanup crew from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee found him Thursday morning crawling through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, one of the most dangerous sections of Everest, just above base camp, Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions told The Associated Press.Rescuers carried him to safety, gave him food and water, and flew him by helicopter to a hospital in Kathmandu, where his wife and daughter were waiting.LONE SURVIVOR RESCUED AFTER FATAL FALL KILLS THREE CLIMBERS ON MOUNT MCKINLEYMedics take Dawa Sherpa, a mountain guide who had been missing for several days in the Everest region, for treatment after he arrived at HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, on June 4, 2026.
(Niranjan Shrestha/AP)By that point, his family had already lost hope.His teenage daughter, Mendo Lhamu Sherpa, told the outlet that relatives were in the middle of funeral rites when news of the rescue broke."When we first heard about it (the rescue), we could not be sure if that person was indeed our father," she said."So to be certain we asked for photos to be sent and then only we were sure and very happy."Medics take Dawa Sherpa, a mountain guide who had been missing for several days in the Everest region, for treatment after he arrived at HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, on June 4, 2026.
(Niranjan Shrestha/AP)His wife, Damu Sherpa, added that the family learned he was alive through local news reports and phone calls from friends."We first h...