Atleast nine killed after an avalanche struck Mt Everest

Nine Sherpa guides were killed and three others were seriously injured on Friday after an avalanche struck Mount Everest. According to Nepali officials the avalanche hit an area just below Camp 2 at about about 6.30am local time at an altitude of about 5,800 metres (19,000 feet). Rescuers and fellow climbers at the base camp headed to the area to help and a helicopter was on the way from Kathmandu.More than 4,000 people have scaled the world's highest peak since it was first climbed by New Zealand's Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953. A total of 240 have died on its slopes.