Avalanche on Mt. Everest kills 12

Nepalese mountaineer Dawa Tashi Sherpa, survivor of an avalanche on Mt. Everest, lies in the Intensive Care Unit at Grandi International Hospital in Katmandu. (Prakash Mathema / AFP/Getty Images)

April 18, 2014 9:30 AM PT

An avalanche swept down a climbing route on Mt. Everest early Friday, killing at least 12 Nepalese guides and leaving three missing in the deadliest disaster on the world’s highest peak.

September 2013 photo of Mt. Everest as seen from an aircraft over Nepal. Authorities called off the rescue operation for survivors after 12 Nepali climbing guides were killed in an avalanche on Mt. Everest as bad weather closed in. (Narendra Shrestha / EPA)

Staff from Grandi International Hospital await the arrival of survivors of an avalanche on Mt. Everest, near the helipad in Katmandu. (Prakash Mathema / AFP/Getty Images)

Fhurbu Sherpa, right, wife of Nepalese mountaineer Dawa Tashi Sherpa, who survived an avalanche on Mt. Everest, waits with family members at the Grandi International Hospital in Katmandu. (Prakash Mathema / AFP/Getty Images)

Hospital staff get ready to receive the injured from an avalanche on the helipad of Grandy hospital, in Katmandu, Nepal. (Niranjan Shrestha / Associated Press)

December 2009 photo of Mt. Everest range seen from Syangboche, a small Himalayan settlement some 87 miles northeast of Katmandu. (Prakash Mathema / AFP/Getty Images)

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Avalanche on Mt. Everest kills 12

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