Express & Star

Family speak of shock as son stranded in Nepal mountain quake

A mountaineer from the Midlands is among those stranded at Mount Everest following the devastating earthquake in Nepal.

Published

Gareth Douglas, 37, from Bridgnorth, was on the north side of the mountain when the quake hit just outside Kathmandu. Up to 2,500 people are believed to have died in the disaster.

His relived father, who lives in Albrighton, near Wolverhampton, today told how they had managed to make contact.

The 37-year-old had recalled his horrific experience as rocks the size of cars fell around climbers on the mountain on Saturday.

Climbers on that side of the mountain managed to escape injury but an avalanche elsewhere killed at least 17 people and injured 61.

Mr Douglas' father, Steve, said communications in the area were down but the two have been keeping in touch through calls and emails on Gareth's mobile phone.

He said: "He is at the north face base camp and it is the south face base camp that got hit by three avalanches - the south face is the more popular route.

"But he certainly felt the earthquake and he text me 15 minutes after it happened and said it was a huge earthquake. He had been in one before but he said this one just felt huge.

"There were rocks the size of cars crashing within 300 metres of them. One of the expedition leaders described the ground as just turning into jelly."

Centre, Gareth Douglas, with fellow climbers at their base camp in Langtang National Park ahead of their expedition to Everest

He said Gareth's plans for the immediate future were unknown as the group had become isolated with transport links into and out of the area being destroyed.

The 7.8 magnitude quake struck Nepal before noon on Saturday and was most severely felt in the capital and the densely populated Kathmandu Valley.

Seven personnel from West Midlands Fire Service are on standby to travel to the region today to help with the International Search and Rescue Service.

They were awaiting news from British Government officials to deploy to the area.

Crews from the West Midlands helped rescue teams in crisis including in the Haiti earthquake in 2010 and the Japanese tsunami in 2011.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.