Saturday, November 14, 2009
Himalaya Rescue Update: Tomaz Is Lost
Sad news from Nepal this morning as ExWeb is reporting that efforts to rescue Tomaz Humer on Langtang Lirung have failed, and that the climber has passed away. According the very brief update to a previous story, a rescue chopper, piloted by Robert Andenmatten found Tomaz, and a rescue attempt was made by Simon Anthamatten, but the Slovenian climber passed away soon after.
That's about all we know at this point, but reading between the lines, it sounds like Tomaz was found on the mountain alive, but passed away shortly after he was airlifted off the 23,711 foot Langtang Lirung. I don't know this for sure, but from what little info that has been passed on, that's what I'd guess to be what happened. I'm sure we'll learn more in the next few days.
Tomaz has travelled to Langtang Lirung to make a solo attempt on the mountain. He suffered injuries on his descent and called for help on Monday using his satellite phone. A rescue team went up the mountain on Tuesday, but were unable to find him, and were forced back down due to bad weather. Attempts to find him were not successful until today, but it was rumored that Humer has suffered injuries not only to his legs and ribs, but also his back, which likely played into his death.
Keep Tomaz's family and friends in your thoughts today.