A British mountaineer has been plucked from the death zone on Everest after a six-day nightmare that has left Whitehall insiders quietly furious about the state of emergency response in the region. The guide, identified as James Mallory, was stranded at 8,000 metres after a sudden storm tore his tent apart. He survived on melted snow and a single energy bar.
The rescue involved a joint operation between Nepali Sherpas and a UK-funded helicopter team. One government source told me: "This is a reminder that our people are still the best in the world at this sort of thing.
But the lack of a proper disaster protocol is a scandal." Mallory is now in a Kathmandu hospital, suffering from severe frostbite but in stable condition. The Foreign Office is coordinating his repatriation.
Expect questions in the Commons next week about how this situation was allowed to unfold.
