wigbert jun il 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 🇬🇱 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Fifteen Nepali workers have lost their lives in the Himlung avalanche. One remains missing. Behind each number is a family, children, partners and parents waiting for someone to come home. They went to the mountains to build a future for their families. They never returned. Alongside this grief are serious questions. If workers were told to remain at camp despite forecasts of bad weather, who made that decision, and on what safety assessment? What was the plan to move kitchen workers and guides to safety? Were weather warnings communicated to them? Did they actually have the right to stop working and leave when they felt unsafe? Is the life of a worker who makes an expedition possible not just as valuable as that of a paying client? Why should the people who cook meals, carry loads, pitch tents and guide climbers receive second-class treatment when it comes to their own safety? No company’s reputation, publicity, media ratings or summit success is worth more than a human life. An independent investigation must establish whether commercial pressure influenced safety decisions. If negligence is established, those responsible must be held accountable. “Mountains are dangerous” cannot become an excuse to evade responsibility for every death. Who will now support the families waiting at home? Who will pay for their children’s education, their elderly parents’ treatment and their daily needs? What is the position of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), the expedition companies concerned and the Government of Nepal? What will they do? They must make public concrete steps to investigate this tragedy, support the families and protect mountain workers.