Five hikers, including Zsolt Eross, the first Hungarian to summit Mt. Everest, are missing and feared dead as they attempted to descend from the world's third highest peak, according to The New York Times.
The group of climbers consisted of 2 Hungarians (Eross and Peter Kiss), a South Korean (Namsoo Park) and two Nepalese Sherpas (Phu Dorjee, Bibash Gurung), according to the Associated Press.
Eross was a very experienced mountaineer who had climbed 12 of the 14 highest peaks in the world. After an accident in 2010 Eross had to have his right leg amputated. The severed limb proved to be only a minor setback for Eross as he climbed the fourth highest peak in the world, Lhotse, with the aid of a prosthetic, according to The New York Times.
Dipendra Poudel, a Nepalese tourism official, told the Associated Press that the group of five is thought to have disappeared while at an altitude of 25,900 feet as they attempted to descend from the 28,169 foot Mount Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas.
"We are not sure what caused their disappearance - it could be an avalanche or a fall," Poudel told the Associated Press. "There is a very slim chance of their survival."
May is the most popular month for attempting to climb any of the peaks in the Himalayas as the weather conditions are supposed to be most favorable. A group of 10 sherpas were sent out to try to find the group but severe weather has hampered their search while also preventing helicopters from landing at base camp, The New York Times reports.
The expedition's spokesman, Vincze Szabolcs, told the website Hungarian Ambiance that there is not much hope that the expedition will be found alive.
"The search and rescue operation is over, the sherpas did their best and they returned to a safe altitude once again without finding any trace of the climbers," Szabolcs said. "If Peter and Zsolt stuck at that altitude and spent the night outdoors, they had virtually no chance to survive."
