“PLEASE don’t leave me,” the dying woman cried.
http://louxis.livejournal.com/4112.html
Quote:
They were the last words British climber Ian Woodhall heard as he abandoned his rescue mission and left her to perish on Mount Everest. And the memory of leaving 40-year-old mum Francys Arsentiev on the mountain has haunted him.
The tragic tale began when professional mountaineer Ian, 50, and climbing partner Cathy O’Dowd spotted a body on a ridge as they neared the famous summit. The seasoned climbers presumed the body was one of the 120 bodies left on the slopes. Then Ian saw the shape move.
Ian recalls: “My heart skipped a beat as I realized this person was alive and alone at 28,000 feet".
“It took us a while to reach her even though she was close. Her clothes were scattered all around and she was lying there in nothing but her thermals. It’s a side-effect of hypothermia that you experience hot flushes which make you want to shed your clothing. As Cathy held her in an attempt to transfer some of her own body heat, I pulled back her hair. I’ll never forget the shock I felt when I realised I knew the woman whose life rested in my hands.”
Ian tried to dress her but her muscles had collapsed "it was like dressing a rag
doll." He says: “She was mumbling "I’m an American" and "Please don’t leave me". “It took two hours to dress her. My concentration was broken by a raspy shrill sound that cut through the eerie silence on the mountain. I realised Cathy was freezing to death, that chilling sound was her airways freezing over. I knew at that point we had to get out of there quick. I wasn’t big or strong enough to save this woman’s life. There was nothing I could do.
Filled with grief, we made our trek back to base camp."
|
:sad:
|
