Everest climber stranded

Press, 23 April 1984, Page 5

Everest climber stranded

NZPA-AFP Katmandu A Bulgarian team has failed to rescue a Bulgarian mountaineer, Hristo Ivanov Prodanov, who has become stranded at 8500 m after a succesful climb of Mount Everest without oxygen, a Nepalese official said yesterday.

Mr Prodanov, aged 41, an engineer from Sofia, reached the 8848 m summit of Mount Everest on Friday in a record 33 days. He encountered difficulties on his way back to base, however, and radioed for help on Friday night. He was said to be short of food and to have lost a glove. .

His last contact with his base camp came at 7.45 p.m. on Saturday. A Nepalese spokesman said yesterday that another Bulgarian, Ludmil Stoyiov lankov, aged 32, had

climbed up to 8400 m on Saturday but he had been forced to bivouac because of darkness.

The entire expedition yesterday began descending from camp five to camp four at 7520 m because of strong winds and bad weather. Mr Prodanov set a record in climbing the peak in 33 days from the date he set up his base camp beneath the Lho La Pass, on the Nepal-Tibet border. Mountaineering experts said that although the 24member Bulgarian team included 17 good climbers, the expedition had been badly planned, so that a timely rescue to save the life of Mr Prodanov could not be done. The next contact with the Bulgarian expedition will be made this morning, the Nepalese spokesman said.