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'I Thought I Would Perish': Everest Survivor Recounts Ordeal

Medics and rescuers carry mountaineer Dawa Sherpa upon his arrival at the HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu on June 4, 2026. (Photo by PRABIN RANABHAT / AFP)
Medics and rescuers carry mountaineer Dawa Sherpa upon his arrival at the HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu on June 4, 2026. (Photo by PRABIN RANABHAT / AFP)
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'I Thought I Would Perish': Everest Survivor Recounts Ordeal

Medics and rescuers carry mountaineer Dawa Sherpa upon his arrival at the HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu on June 4, 2026. (Photo by PRABIN RANABHAT / AFP)
Medics and rescuers carry mountaineer Dawa Sherpa upon his arrival at the HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu on June 4, 2026. (Photo by PRABIN RANABHAT / AFP)

A Nepali mountaineer who survived nearly a week on Mount Everest said he "chewed ice" to stay alive, as he recovered in a hospital after a miraculous rescue that stunned the climbing community.

Dawa Sherpa, 57, disappeared in brutal conditions on the upper slopes of the world's tallest mountain on May 30 during one of the final climbs of the spring season.

With few climbers still on the peak and his oxygen exhausted, relatives had given up hope and begun ritual mourning prayers, believing he had died on the mountain.

"I didn't think I would be alive," he told BBC Nepali on Friday from his hospital bed.

"I thought I would perish this way. I didn't get lost. As the oxygen ran out, I fell behind. After the oxygen finished, I couldn't walk."

Left stranded in freezing temperatures near Everest's "death zone", where oxygen levels are critically low, Dawa Sherpa said he survived for days with almost no food or water.

"I didn't eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice. It hurt my teeth. I chewed the ice hard," AFP quoted him as saying.

He survived on a few chocolates and snacks he found in his pockets.

"I soaked them in water and had them," he said.

Dawa Sherpa, also known as "Hillary" after legendary climber Edmund Hillary, had told others after his rescue that at one point he fell into a crevasse before managing to climb out.

"Stepping on the snow, I stood up and looked above... It felt I could get out from there," he said.

"I then looked for ropes and found one. Then I held on to it and walked... eventually I came down."

He said he walked day and night towards base camp until finally encountering people almost a week later.

He was found crawling towards the base camp on the morning of June 4 by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), a Nepali team that helps set routes on Everest and clean up waste left behind.

"Boys from SPCC were going up to collect the waste. I met them. They carried me down."

He was flown to Kathmandu for treatment for frostbite, severe dehydration and a fractured thigh bone, doctors said.

"He is doing well. We had a chat," his daughter Mendo Lhamu Sherpa told AFP.

His survival has sparked celebration among fellow climbers, but also anger from family members who accused rescue teams of failing to locate him sooner.

Nepal Mountaineering Association President Fur Gelje Sherpa called the survival extraordinary but said the incident highlighted serious concerns over climber safety.

"It is irresponsible and inhumane to leave a person behind," he said. "I believe that an investigation committee must be formed to hold the responsible people accountable for this."

Everest guide Rinji Sherpa, who comes from the same village as Dawa Sherpa, said the climber was highly experienced and familiar with the dangers of high-altitude mountaineering.

"He is very lucky, he has had several close calls before but he has survived," he said.

At least five climbers -- two Indians and three Nepalis -- died during this year's Everest season.

More than 1,000 climbers reached Everest's summit this season, according to preliminary Nepali government figures, making it the busiest season on record.

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Greece Is Paying Fishermen to Catch Toxic Toadfish Invading the Warming Mediterranean

A silver-cheeked toadfish placed on the ground after being caught by fishermen on the southern island of Crete, Greece, Monday, June 22, 2015. (InTime News via AP)
A silver-cheeked toadfish placed on the ground after being caught by fishermen on the southern island of Crete, Greece, Monday, June 22, 2015. (InTime News via AP)
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Greece Is Paying Fishermen to Catch Toxic Toadfish Invading the Warming Mediterranean

A silver-cheeked toadfish placed on the ground after being caught by fishermen on the southern island of Crete, Greece, Monday, June 22, 2015. (InTime News via AP)
A silver-cheeked toadfish placed on the ground after being caught by fishermen on the southern island of Crete, Greece, Monday, June 22, 2015. (InTime News via AP)

Fishermen in Greece are getting cash payouts to catch toxic fish migrating north into the Mediterranean Sea due to climate change.

The silver-cheeked toadfish is a torpedo-shaped species with prominent, humanlike teeth. Its skin and organs contain a powerful neurotoxin that can cause heart failure in humans if consumed.

Authorities say the fish have not been sighted in bathing areas at Greek island resorts. But in recent weeks, the fish have wreaked havoc for fishermen off the coast of Crete and several other Greek islands, chomping through nets.

“It’s got to the point where we might go out fishing one day and then spend the next three days fixing our nets,” Giorgos Kyriakakis, of a Cretan fishermen’s association, told Greek public broadcaster ERT on Friday.

“They eat our catch and damage our nets — that’s very costly,” he said.

The fish are believed to have traveled up the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean, attracted by warming waters. The invasion prompted Cyprus to launch a similar catch program earlier this year.

Starting Friday, Greece's government is offering 5.33 euros per kilogram (about $2.75 per pound) for catches of the fish, which is normally found in tropical waters.

“It’s the first time that such a measure has been taken in Greece,” Agriculture Minister Margaritis Schinas, a former European Commission vice president, said ahead of the program’s launch.

The fish – a member of the puffer fish family – will be frozen and incinerated at local government facilities, Schinas said. He added that the measure would likely be expanded from the currently affected islands to all Greek waters.

Public concern has been stoked in Greece by online videos posted by Greek fishing crews, showing the fish sinking their teeth into soda cans or pieces of wood.

The Greek Red Cross has issued a public health warning about the fish, outlining first-aid protocols for bleeding caused by potential bites and warning of the deadly neurotoxin in the fish’s organs.

But authorities and businesses on the island of Crete cautioned against overreacting to the fish’s offshore presence.

“The presence of these fish in the Mediterranean has been known for years,” a statement issued Friday by 16 medical and tourism associations on Crete said.

“There is, however, no ‘invisible’ or imminent danger to bathers. Marine predators do not threaten the safety of visitors and residents,” it said. “Exaggeration is often a feature of public debate.”

Varieties

St. Bernard Dogs Still Roam the Swiss Alps as Part of 'Living Museum'

St. Bernard dogs from the Barry foundation run in the hills at the St. Bernard Pass, Switzerland, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jez Fielder)
St. Bernard dogs from the Barry foundation run in the hills at the St. Bernard Pass, Switzerland, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jez Fielder)
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St. Bernard Dogs Still Roam the Swiss Alps as Part of 'Living Museum'

St. Bernard dogs from the Barry foundation run in the hills at the St. Bernard Pass, Switzerland, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jez Fielder)
St. Bernard dogs from the Barry foundation run in the hills at the St. Bernard Pass, Switzerland, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jez Fielder)

At the Great St. Bernard Pass high in the Swiss Alps, the eponymous dogs still walk the same mountain paths their ancestors patrolled for hundreds of years to find travelers buried beneath the snow.

Down in the valley, a living museum honoring the Swiss national dog's history — and its future — is marking its first year.

More than 130,000 people have visited Barryland, the world's only space dedicated to St. Bernards, since it opened last summer in Martigny, Switzerland, after outgrowing a much smaller space. Tourists can watch live grooming and physiotherapy sessions, explore the mountain pass with augmented reality technology and learn more about the dogs.

“We have a lot of demand and interest for this breed and this whole history and patrimony,” The Associated Press quoted Barryland director Mélanie Glassey-Roth as saying. “So we decided to create a new park, a big one.”

At 2,469 meters (8,100 feet) above sea level on the Swiss-Italian border, the Great St. Bernard Pass is one of the country’s highest and most treacherous.

Since the mid-17th century, large mountain dogs have been kept on the pass. They arrived as guard dogs, became companions, and gradually evolved into something the Alpine world had never seen before: Animals with an extraordinary instinct for locating hikers lost in snow and fog.

The breed's name stems from the Great St. Bernard Hospice, which was founded in 1050 by Bernard de Montjoux, the archdeacon of Aosta and future saint, to provide refuge for pilgrims and merchants crossing the dangerous pass. The dogs became central to that mission, and by the early 19th century they had a reputation that was carried across Europe by soldiers of Napoleon Bonaparte following his army's own crossing of the route.

Barry the First, the most celebrated dog, is traditionally credited with saving more than 40 lives when he was at the hospice between 1800 and 1812. At the Barry Foundation, the steward for the breeding program, there is always a male dog called Barry.

Currently, the foundation's 21 keepers care for 32 dogs. Roughly 20 pedigree puppies are born annually. These dogs, as well as other St. Bernards, no longer do mountain rescues because they’re too big to be transported by helicopter. Smaller breeds like Australian shepherds are used instead, though a number of St. Bernards are kept on the pass to keep the tradition alive.

The foundation's dogs typically eat about 10 metric tons (22,046 pounds) of dry food each year and spend their summers gamboling in the remnants of snow in the mountains before heading 40 kilometers (25 miles) down winding roads back to the kennel in Barryland.

“We get to see them born, and we get to see them grow up, and then become mothers, and we get to accompany them through all those different challenges in life,” keeper Alexandra Piatti said. “We are their guide, so we can help them with socialization and educate them, and really be by their side for their whole lives.”

In 2025 alone, the foundation says its dogs completed 609 jobs by visiting hospitals, care homes, schools and prisons across Switzerland.

Keeper Déborah Dini balances the weight of the breed's history with affection for the dogs in her charge.

“We perpetuate the tradition,” she said. “We take care of them. We love them.”

Varieties

Analysis: At Least 150 Mn People in Europe Forecast to Face Temperatures Above 35C Friday

Youths cool down in the waters of the Canal Saint-Martin as France experiences a heatwave, in Paris on June 25, 2026. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
Youths cool down in the waters of the Canal Saint-Martin as France experiences a heatwave, in Paris on June 25, 2026. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
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Analysis: At Least 150 Mn People in Europe Forecast to Face Temperatures Above 35C Friday

Youths cool down in the waters of the Canal Saint-Martin as France experiences a heatwave, in Paris on June 25, 2026. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
Youths cool down in the waters of the Canal Saint-Martin as France experiences a heatwave, in Paris on June 25, 2026. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

At least 150 million people in Europe are expected to experience temperatures above 35C on Friday, according to an AFP analysis.

Germany is now expected to bear the brunt of the heatwave, with some 82 million people forecast to experience temperatures above 30C on Friday, including 52 million facing temperatures exceeding 35C.

Some 420 million people across Europe (excluding Türkiye) -- around 70 percent of the population -- will swelter in temperatures of more than 30C, according to the analysis.

Pedestrians cool off at “The area with Ljubljana’s own weather” in Preseren Square in Ljubljana on June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jure MAKOVEC / AFP)

Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland have all broken temperature records during the heatwave, with the high temperatures now expected to affect large parts of Hungary, Belgium and Luxembourg, among others.

The analysis is based on forecasts from the German Meteorological Service and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Center and is in line with figures from Austrian NGO Klimadashboard.