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Nepali Climber Alive after Six Days Missing on Everest

This photograph taken on May 20, 2026, shows mountaineers on Everest. Furte Sherpa / AFP
This photograph taken on May 20, 2026, shows mountaineers on Everest. Furte Sherpa / AFP
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Nepali Climber Alive after Six Days Missing on Everest

This photograph taken on May 20, 2026, shows mountaineers on Everest. Furte Sherpa / AFP
This photograph taken on May 20, 2026, shows mountaineers on Everest. Furte Sherpa / AFP

A Nepali climbing guide who went missing on Mount Everest for six days and was feared dead has been found alive after crawling back to Base Camp, officials told AFP on Thursday.

The experienced Hillary Dawa Sherpa vanished on the upper reaches of the world's highest mountain early on May 30.

He was found on Thursday morning close to Base Camp by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), a Nepali team that helps set routes on Everest and clean up waste left behind.

"He was crawling down," Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, which was overseeing search and rescue efforts, told AFP.

"A helicopter has been sent to bring him to a hospital in Kathmandu."

Climber Chris Thrall, a former British Royal Marine, said he successfully summited the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak with Sherpa around 5:00 pm on May 29.

He posted a video message on Instagram on Wednesday morning what he thought was the death of Sherpa.

He called Sherpa an "absolute gentle giant of a man and a true 'tiger of the mountains'", in a post that assumed the worst.

Thrall described how on May 30 he had begun to descend from Camp Four -- at around 7,950m -- and just below the low-oxygen "death zone".

He said that as he descended, Sherpa stopped.

"He sat down for a rest with his backpack, these guys carry huge loads," he said.

"And I turned and I said, 'Hillary, are you okay, brother?' He said, 'Yes, yes, fine Chris, please go, go!' This is nothing new, you know, I'd go ahead, he'd go ahead."

As Thrall went down he found a Polish climber who was struggling after running out of supplementary oxygen and had suffered frostbite.

"It had been a long summit push. What should have been five days to the summit and back took us 11 days, that's how challenging the conditions were," said Thrall.

"So, do I go back for Sherpa, who's probably going to rock up and be fine, as he has done hundreds of times before?" he added.

"Or do I help my fellow climber, who's got no oxygen, frostbite in his fingers, and obviously you're never far off hypothermia up there?"

Thrall described tough conditions, sharing his oxygen cylinder with the Pole as they descended, taking 11 hours to get to Camp Three. It would usually take two hours.

He said: "I realized we had a really serious situation."

Search teams set out to find Sherpa but he was not seen again until Thursday morning, having made his way down on his own.

The climb was one of the last of the season, meaning that there were few other mountaineers on the peak.

At least five people have died this season -- two Indians and three Nepali climbers involved in Everest preparations.

More than one thousand climbers reached the summit of Everest this season, according to initial tallies by Nepali officials, making it the busiest season on record.

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Varieties

‘Beirut Holidays’ Launches 11th Edition with Abeer Nehme

The crowd erupted in applause as Nehme walked onto the stage with her band, dressed in white. She opened with “Ahwe" (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The crowd erupted in applause as Nehme walked onto the stage with her band, dressed in white. She opened with “Ahwe" (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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‘Beirut Holidays’ Launches 11th Edition with Abeer Nehme

The crowd erupted in applause as Nehme walked onto the stage with her band, dressed in white. She opened with “Ahwe" (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The crowd erupted in applause as Nehme walked onto the stage with her band, dressed in white. She opened with “Ahwe" (Asharq Al-Awsat)

In an evening filled with the joy of reunion and the sense of a city finding its pulse again, the Beirut Holidays festival opened its 11th season under the slogan “And Lebanon Remains.”

Abeer Nehme headlined the opening concert, performing for 90 minutes and moving between her own songs and timeless works by Fairuz and Zaki Nassif.

Thousands gathered on the waterfront in the Antelias-Naccache area to join her in celebrating a city trying to catch its breath and beginning to shake off the dust of war. Lebanese and foreign political figures were also in attendance.

The crowd erupted in applause as Nehme walked onto the stage with her band, dressed in white. She opened with “Ahwe,” written and composed by Charbel Rouhana, expressing her longing to reunite with her Lebanese audience after a long wait.

She followed with “Li Beirut,” as the stage gave way to a striking visual spectacle.

Illuminated drones traced a map of Lebanon across the sky, shifting in formation with the lyrics. At one moment, they formed a heart; at another, they created symbolic scenes of embraces hovering above the audience.

The display added a powerful visual dimension to the concert, catching spectators by surprise and prompting many to raise their phones to record the moment.

Nehme extended her tribute to the capital with “Habibati” (Beirut), a song carrying a message of love and hope.

Nehme said she was delighted to meet her Lebanese audience again after an absence and thanked those who had traveled long distances to attend the concert.

The heat did little to weaken the crowd’s enthusiasm. Audience members clapped, waved and sang with her throughout the evening, in a scene that reflected the sense of longing shared between performer and public.

She performed “They Say Love Kills Time,” composed by the late Ziad Rahbani (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The concert unfolded through a series of surprises, with Nehme presenting a program that crossed several musical styles. She welcomed Algerian artist Amine of Babylone, paid tribute to the late Zaki Nassif and moved smoothly between French chanson, classical Arabic music and her own work.

Her varied musical choices and the energetic pace of the performance kept the audience engaged until the final moments.

In one of the evening’s lighthearted surprises, Nehme invited Amine to the stage. When he was slow to appear, she called out to him several times, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Once he joined her, the two performed a distinctive duet of his well-known song “Zina.”

After Nehme performed “Waynak,” the stage setting changed and images of the late Zaki Nassif filled the giant screens.

She honored him with two songs from his repertoire, “Naqqili Zahra” and “Ishtaqna Ktir Ya Habayeb.” As the music began, the audience rose, applauding and singing along.

The moment blended nostalgia with joy, as an entire generation revisited memories shaped by Nassif’s enduring songs.

Nehme then performed “Bi Oulo El Hob Bi Oqtol El Waqt,” composed by the late Ziad Rahbani, before moving toward pianist Mark Naoum, who accompanied her in a performance marked by romance and musical harmony.

She followed with her song “Amal,” then sang “Hymne à l’amour” by celebrated French singer Edith Piaf, one of the leading stars of the 1950s. Red hearts lit up the stage backdrop, deepening the romantic mood.

Nehme’s vocal abilities stood out throughout the concert.

Her performance of “Ya Tara,” a song about the changes that reshape a love relationship, held the audience’s attention and left a clear emotional impression.

Before leaving the stage, Nehme performed “Bala Ma Nhess” and “Bi Saraha,” two songs that have become fixtures at her concerts.

She closed with “Byeb'a Nas,” delivering a message of gratitude and loyalty to those who have accompanied her on her artistic and personal journey.

The evening ended on a note of joy and hope, reaffirming music’s ability to bring Lebanese people together around a shared moment of life.

Varieties

Baby Haaland in Peru: Newborns Take Names of World Cup Stars

Erling Haaland wears a viking helmet after beating the Ivory Coast at the World Cup. (Getty Images)
Erling Haaland wears a viking helmet after beating the Ivory Coast at the World Cup. (Getty Images)
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Baby Haaland in Peru: Newborns Take Names of World Cup Stars

Erling Haaland wears a viking helmet after beating the Ivory Coast at the World Cup. (Getty Images)
Erling Haaland wears a viking helmet after beating the Ivory Coast at the World Cup. (Getty Images)

In Peru, there is ‌a wave of new baby Haalands. In Argentina, Lionel has raced up the rankings, and in Mexico a girl was reportedly named after three football players. Parents in Latin America are already christening a new generation of babies after the stars of the World Cup.

Hundreds of newborns in Peru have been named for rising stars such as Norway's Erling Haaland, while names inspired by legacy icons like Lionel Messi, Brazil's Neymar and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo each count around 30,000 registrations, Ivan Torres, a spokesperson for Peru's civil registry RENIEC told Panamericana TV last week.

"Haaland is now Peruvian too," Torres said, noting one newborn was simply ‌named "Mundial" after the ‌Spanish shorthand for the World Cup. Peru did not ‌qualify ⁠for the tournament.

Many ⁠Latin Americans with teams not competing or knocked out have been unwilling to support Argentina — broadly seen as too Eurocentric — and thrown their support behind the Norwegian team, whose "Viking row" and Haaland-driven run to the quarter-finals for the first time won them legions of new fans.

In Mexico, which co-hosted the World Cup with the US and Canada, a picture of a birth certificate went viral on social ⁠media showing a baby girl named Quiñona Ysisidra Morita ‌Haaland Guevara - a reference to Mexican stars ‌Julián Quiñones and Gilberto Mora as well as the Norwegian striker.

Ysisidra is a play on "Y ‌si sí?", or "What if?", the upbeat mantra chanted by Mexican fans until ‌they were knocked out by England in the last 16.

Mexico's governance secretariat did not immediately verify the authenticity of the certificate.

In Argentina, Enzo, Emiliano and Lionel topped the list of most popular boy names in the northeastern province of Salta the week before ‌the final, according to local authorities who attributed the trend to the "World Cup phenomenon."

Argentina's World Cup team, who ⁠will play in ⁠Sunday's final, include midfielder Enzo Fernandez and goalkeeper Emiliano "Dibu" Martinez, as well as team captain Messi.

Fabiola Molina, who hosts Mexico City-based podcast "Sin manual para padres" ("No manual for parents"), told Reuters the trend had a history across Latin America dating back to Diego Maradona's 1986 goal against England.

"A few years ago when the Backstreet Boys were popular, many women were naming their sons Kevin and Brian, and that's why it's very common in countries like Bolivia, Chile and Argentina to find someone called Brian Gonzalez, for example."

"It's funny, but it could also be prejudicial to children when they grow up," she said. "Just because your name is Messi or Lionel, it doesn't mean you'll grow up to be a good soccer player — destiny won't carve that out for you."

Varieties

Northeast Spain Wildfire Destroys Over 12,000 Hectares

Firefighters work at a site, following a wildfire in the municipality of Ores, northern Aragon region, Spain July 15, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a video. (Spanish Military Emergency Unit/Handout via Reuters)
Firefighters work at a site, following a wildfire in the municipality of Ores, northern Aragon region, Spain July 15, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a video. (Spanish Military Emergency Unit/Handout via Reuters)
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Northeast Spain Wildfire Destroys Over 12,000 Hectares

Firefighters work at a site, following a wildfire in the municipality of Ores, northern Aragon region, Spain July 15, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a video. (Spanish Military Emergency Unit/Handout via Reuters)
Firefighters work at a site, following a wildfire in the municipality of Ores, northern Aragon region, Spain July 15, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a video. (Spanish Military Emergency Unit/Handout via Reuters)

A major wildfire that has been raging for two days in northeast Spain has reduced more than 12,000 hectares of land to ash, regional authorities said Friday, warning of a "very high risk of spreading".

"The night has been very complex, very difficult. At this time, we estimate that the burned area exceeds 12,000 hectares" (29,650 acres), Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, who is responsible for security issues within the regional government of Aragon, told the media.

Spain is still reeling from another fire last week in the southern Andalusia region that killed 13 people -- including seven Britons and an American -- and destroyed 7,000 hectares, the deadliest such disaster in the country's recent history.

More than 450 firefighters backed by army reinforcements were battling the growing blaze near the city of Zaragoza, in a sparsely populated part of the Aragon region, where five small villages have been evacuated.

Peak temperatures of up to 40C have hit Aragon in recent days.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is increasing the length, intensity and frequency of extreme heat, which creates favorable conditions for the spread of wildfires and complicates firefighting efforts.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned Tuesday on a visit to fire-devastated Andalusia that Spain was facing a "complicated summer" for wildfires.