Phuket couple describe terrifying 72 hours near Everest

Speaking with The Phuket News via Facebook messenger, the owner of a Phuket diving school and his wife recounted their struggle to survive for three days in the mountains near Mt. Everest following Saturday’s earthquake.

“We had to run with 25-kilogram backpacks between the aftershocks,” Ben Reymenants. “Basically that's what we’ve been doing for the past 48 hours. We hide and then we run.”

Ben Reymenants and wife Simone Reymenants were trekking in the mountains close to the Tibet border and descending from their last camp at 5,000 meters when the big quake struck Saturday.

Live from Lukla, a small town used as an access point for Everest climbers, Ben spoke with the Phuket News yesterday about their struggle.

“When everything started shaking, we took refuge in a small teahouse. At first, we thought it was the storm growing in intensity, but then we were horrified to see cupboards toppling over. We realised the Nepalese staff had left the teahouse,” Ben explained.

After the quake – which was followed by 24 violent aftershocks in the following 24 hours, with more still taking place – communication is difficult, to say the least. Ben and Simone had no laptop with them and phone connections are down.

Neither was injured, but getting down out of the mountains to the airport has been a massive trial.

Houses had been flattened, yaks – the local equivalent of the buffalo – had been pulled off the mountain and the earth kept rumbling. Ben and Simone took refuge for the night in the dining area of a lodge, being woken several times by the aftershocks.

The second big aftershock was at 1pm on Sunday in Namche Bazaar.

“Back on the street, the situation was worse. We were trapped between two collapsing buildings, with no place to run to. But we knew we had to keep moving fast. We passed grassy areas where people had gathered, waving helplessly to the helicopters overhead, but they were flying to Everest Base Camp where an ice avalanche had buried dozens of climbers.”

“There is no help here. It’s like a war zone. We have spent 22 hours walking through a disaster zone. We felt that we were so very lucky.”

“There were no supplies. We managed to get some soup and luckily carried a lot of survival food and a water purifying system. We still had to run out into the open several times a night during aftershocks.”

Monday afternoon, Ben and Simone reached Lukla, about 15km south of Namche Bazaar and at 2,860 metres. A small town, Lukla is used as an access point for Everest climbers, so has accommodation and an airstrip.

“Up in the mountains there was lots of destruction. Pretty grim, ghost towns and collapsed roads, choppers everywhere taking out deceased and wounded.”

He said he was hoping that he and Simone could get taken out by helicopter or plane, but the crowd of travelers stuck in Lukla is getting bigger and the airstrip is too small for anything larger than light aircraft or helicopters.

“But we need to get off this mountain. We’re trying to find a helicopter, but it’s hard. We’ve been worrying for the past three days because there are aftershocks all the time. And the weather is closing in. Helicopters are still bringing injured and exhausted climbers from base camp.”

“I’ve just had Thai Airways confirm bookings for us from Kathmandu to Bangkok on Thursday [April 30]. We just want to get back to Thailand.”

Story: The Phuket News Bangkok Coconuts