At 16:42 local Swiss time, Viki Groselj from Slovenia informed me by phone, that Tomaz Humar was in a bad situation on Langtang Lirung, north of Kathmandu, injured at 6`300 meters. He had called last on Monday, November 9th. He said that Tomaz may have a broken leg and that a rescue team from Nepal is on it’s way up to get him down. Viki wanted to make sure if we could help in case the Nepali team would not be able to get Tomaz from the mountain. I called Bruno Jelk, president of the terrestrial commission ICAR and rescue chief of Zermatt. Bruno agreed to help provided that besides a second rescuer and the technical gear a pilot will be joining the team. We agreed that I would stay in Zermatt because of my knee surgery and as the coordinator of the mission. Bruno also agreed that one of our most experienced pilots or a pilot from Air Glaciers should travel with the terrestrial rescuers to Nepal. Robi Andenmatten and Simon Anthamatten agreed directly and wanted to have further information.
We where on standby until Viki`s call the next day.
THURSDAY, November 12.
Viki called early in the morning to give us the final „go“. Bruno, Simon and I had a meeting in Zermatt at 9:30 while Robi was flying sling loads on the Theodul glacier until 10:00. He rushed home to get his gear and the team flew with our helicopter to Visp because the train to Zürich was leaving at 10:56. The air tickets where organized by the office of Air Zermatt. The rescuers arrived late that night in Doha and went to the hotel. The next morning they flew with Tomaz doctor and a friend to Kathmandu.
FRIDAY, November 13.
ICAR president Mr. Toni Grab informed the Swiss Embassy in Nepal about the arrival of the rescue team. The secretary called the German Embassy which is also representing Slovenia. From Switzerland I tried to organize the arrival of our team. Viki had informed Ang Tshering Sherpa, the coordinator of the rescue mission on site. The team arrived inless than 24 hours after leaving Zermatt. Compared to the mission 4 years ago on Naga Parbat we saved one day at least. Our representative in Nepal, Mr. Som Bikram Singh, and Mr. Tshering gave all necessary information to our team and they all had a meeting with the helicopter company “Fishtail Air” who is exploring a brand new AS 350 B3, the only civilian helicopter able to do the rescue mission at these altitudes in Nepal. The responsible pilots and managers where very helpful and our team could negotiate a possible solution for the next day, because on Wednesday, the weather on Langtang Lirung was not good enough to try a rescue attempt. They also agreed to fly up to base camp with 2 helicopters and additional fuel early the next morning.
SATURDAY, November 14.
One AS 350 B2, piloted by Mr. Suman Pandey, CEO Fishtail Air, as well as a second AS 350 B3, with Capt. Sabin Basnyat at the controls and Robi Andenmatten on the Copilot site, including the rest of the team and all equipment flew at 7:15 local time from Kathmandu airport in direction Langtang Lirung.
Capt. Basnyat, Robi and Bruno made a first recee flight. Bruno spotted Tomaz after crossing the col of the south ridge after 10 minutes of flight in the south west face. They saw the old tracks of the Sherpas on the ridge and found Tomaz body much further away and slightly lower then expected.
After returning to base camp, Simon went up with Capt. Basnyat and Robi to select the length of the rope and possible drop position for Simon. There where at all times only 3 persons on board the aircraft and that weight allowed the crew to hover out of ground effect with sufficient power margin.
Simon went up on the 25 meter line from base camp and was dropped very close to Tomaz. Capt. Basnyat and Robi stayed in the vicinity. Simon realized that Tomaz was not alive anymore and that he had lost almost all of his gear. He prepared Tomaz’ evacuation and the team decided to fly Tomaz out off the face and to bring him down to base camp. During the evacuation, Simon remained on the accident site and waited for the return of the chopper. He was flown down 10 minutes later.
Bruno could not follow the rescue mission from his position and so he was very happy to have everybody back at base camp. Capt. Basnyat and Robi went up to Tomaz camp to collect all his staff and did a shut down of the aircraft shortly later.
The two helicopters returned to Kathmandu and Tomaz Humar was brought to the German Embassy. Our team returned the same day to Doha and arrived early Sunday in Zermatt.
The rescue mission unfortunately was not a full success. Tomaz, our friend, died on Langtang Lirung. We did our best and could react within short time and were ready for the rescue 24 hours after the “go” from Viki in Kathmandu.
3 days later, the team was back in Switzerland with plenty of experience.
Nobody knows and will ever know when exactly Tomaz died on the mountain.
All the positive and negative aspects of the second direct rescue in the Himalaya and the first attempt in Nepal must be discussed. The ideal platform is ICAR with his president Mr. Toni Grab.
Zermatt, November 16, 2009
In the name of the SWISS rescue team
Gerold Biner
