Toil awaits rescuers if Hawari falls to Mt Lhotse’s base: Magendran

KUALA LUMPUR – Difficult tasks await rescuers if hearing-impaired climber Muhammad Hawari Hashim, who was reported missing while descending Mount Everest, falls to the base of Mount Lhotse, said Datuk M. Magendran.

The slopes of Mount Lhotse – which neighbours Mount Everest – are very steep and if climbers slip they would likely fall to the glaciers at its base, said the first Malaysian to scale the world’s highest peak.

“The area at the foot of Mount Lhotse is quite wide and it will take a long time to search. Moreover, if the victim fell into an ice fissure, the search efforts will be more difficult,” he said in an online interview with Bernama TV today.

Magendran said, however, it is not impossible for the search team to find Hawari, 33, based on his experience in 1997 when a sherpa, who slipped and fell down the slopes of Mount Lhotse from a height of 1,000m, was successfully found.

He also expressed concern about whether Hawari had brought enough oxygen supply to descend the dangerous slopes of Mount Lhotse, which is the world’s fourth-highest peak.

“If he had used oxygen all the way up to the Mount Everest summit, the supply would not be sufficient to get him down the mountain to Camp 4… but it is also possible that he changed the oxygen tank midway.

“I’m not sure if he changed to a new oxygen tank or brought more with him before descending to either Camp 3 or Camp 2. (But) if there is insufficient oxygen supply, a person can suffer from acute mountain sickness, which can lead to delusions,” he said.

Yesterday, Hawari, who was on the Malaysia Everest 2023 (ME 2023) mission, was reported to have gone missing while descending from Camp 4 after conquering Mount Everest.

The day before, another ME 2023 participant, Kedah Civil Defence Force Director Awang Askandar Ampuan Yaacub, 56, was reported to have died on the mission.

Organised by the Altitude Exploration Club, ME 2023 started its two-month mission to conquer Mount Everest on April 2 with the support of the government and the Youth and Sports Ministry. 

Meanwhile, national mountaineer Datuk Muhamad Muqharabbin Mokhtarrudin said the sports ministry and the expedition organiser should conduct a thorough investigation as these were the first such incidents involving Malaysian climbers since 1997.

He said that scaling Mount Everest is no easy feat, as it requires not only extensive preparation and training but also prior experience with steep snow climbing.

“Even if we have money and sponsors, we may not be able to summit Everest. I had to train for over two years at home and abroad, and I visited Nepal several times before conquering Everest in 2004.

“I had to adapt to the mountains in Nepal for two months before reaching the summit on May 16, 2004. This is to ensure that our bodies are fit and able to survive in frigid temperatures and unpredictable weather,” he said in a statement today. – Bernama, May 21, 2023