"All I thought about was death" - Malaysian Nepal quake survivor
Astro Awani
May 7, 2015 22:08 MYT
May 7, 2015 22:08 MYT
Farul Aidib sharing his near-death experience after an avalanche hit Mount Everest. - Astro AWANI
"I just thought about death."
Those were the words of a climber during the Nepal earthquake which subsequently led to an avalanche at the Mount Everest Base Camp.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) student Farul Aidib Mohamad Yusoff shared his experience of the devastation which caused the death of thousands of lives.
Due to the avalanche, all the tents at the base camp – including those from the Malaysian team – were blanketed in snow.
For this group, they were lucky as they managed to escape.
Farul, 21, said they were 100 metres away from where the snow fell.
“At the time, we were waiting for lunch. When we felt the tremor, everyone went outside to look at what happened. When we saw the chunk of snow approaching, we quickly ran to save our lives. We were already thinking about death at that time because the ice came with stones and all,” he said.
Meanwhile, coach and head climber Azim Afif Ishak said they went through a horrifying moment when they saw the impact of the avalanche.
A nice view of the mountain was replaced with the bodies lying all over.
“We ran for two minutes. When we went outside the base camp, the area was flat. We saw several bodies and we just wanted to run as there was no place for shelter,” he related.
Assistant coach for the mission, Anis Zulaikha, said they were able to avoid from being covered with snow due to the quick assistance from Sherpa (mountain guide).
“We were in the tent, waiting for lunch and chit-chatting with Sherpa. We felt a tremor and we thought the tent was shaking due to the wind or something. Then the Sherpa went outside to look at what was happening. Then he saw an avalanche and he asked us to seek refuge because after the avalanche then a blizzard happen. It was a nerve-wrecking moment for us,” said Anis.
They were met at KLIA2 after boarding an AirAsia plane from Kathmandu on Wednesday evening.
The mission involved five climers – three from UTM and two former students.
A helicopter was used to transport them from the Base Camp to the foot of the mountain.