A Nepali Sherpa guide, previously thought to have perished on Mount Everest, was discovered crawling toward base camp a week after his disappearance and just as funeral rites were beginning for him.

Hillary Dawa Sherpa, named in honor of the renowned climber Edmund Hillary, was last observed on May 29 but failed to return to base camp with his fellow climbing teams.

A fellow climber reported that Dawa was last seen in the perilous “death zone” of the mountain, an area where the oxygen levels are dangerously low, making survival difficult for humans.

A helicopter search team was unable to locate the 52-year-old guide; however, he was found on Thursday morning, as per Pemba Sherpa from 8K Expeditions, which managed the search efforts. A climbing support team discovered him crawling down the snowy terrain near the Khumbu icefall, just above base camp, said Pemba Sherpa.

Although Dawa suffered from frostbite on his hands, he was otherwise in good condition and was swiftly transported to safety, where he received food and water. A rescue helicopter then flew him to a hospital in Kathmandu, where his wife and daughter were waiting, having already commenced his funeral rituals.

“We first learned he was alive through the local news,” commented his wife, Damu Sherpa.

Dawa’s teenage daughter, Mendo Lhamu Sherpa, shared that they were on the second day of a multi-day funeral ceremony. “When we first got the news of the rescue, we could not confirm if that person was truly our father,” Mendo Lhamu stated. “We requested photos to be sent to us, and once we saw them, we were sure and extremely overjoyed.”

Dawa was last spotted at a location known as Yellow Band, situated above camp 3 at an altitude of 7,200 meters (23,622 feet), while the base camp is at 5,300 meters.

He was employed by a small Kathmandu-based company, Himalayan Traverse, and was leading a Polish climber. Dawa hails from Okhaldhunga, a town located south of Everest.

This week, Chris Thrall, a British climber and former Royal Marine, shared a video tribute to Dawa, mistakenly believing he had died on the mountain. Thrall recounted an interaction where he checked on Dawa, who assured him he was fine. “I said, ‘Hillary, are you OK, brother?’ He replied, ‘Yes, yes, fine Chris, please go, go!’” Thrall noted that Dawa had a satellite phone and a radio, though he was uncertain of their operational status.

Thrall continued his descent and found Dawa’s Polish client in a dire situation, lacking oxygen and suffering from frostbite, prompting him to assist the climber while assuming that Dawa would manage to descend safely on his own. “The weather was incredibly variable and harsh,” Thrall remarked. “It’s tragic and unfortunate, but that’s the nature of high-altitude climbing.”

The survival of Dawa has been celebrated as a miraculous event within Nepal’s mountaineering community. “Surviving so many days in such severe conditions is nothing short of a miracle,” stated Ang Tshering Sherpa, a prominent figure in the community.