The search for an Irish mountaineer who is missing on Mount Everest has been called off due to bad weather.
Seamus Lawless from Bray in County Wicklow reached the peak of the world’s highest mountain yesterday morning.
He was reported missing while making his descent – and rescue teams have braved severe weather conditions to search for him in the hours since.
The search was officially suspended this afternoon amid high winds and freezing temperatures of -27C with a wind chill making it feel as low as -42C.
The weather in the area is not forecast to clear until Sunday at the earliest.
Today's attempt to locate Séamus on #Everest proved unsuccessful and will resume when weather clears. Rest of the team are at Camp 2 (6400m). It has been a traumatic 24 hours for the Lawless family and for Noel & Jenny. Keep them all in your thoughts at this very difficult time. pic.twitter.com/lH5rxdPAJa
— Paul Devaney (@Irish7Summits) May 17, 2019
The 39-year-old father-of-one was reached the summit yesterday morning alongside two other Irish climbers – team leader Noel Hanna and Jenny Copeland.
The rest of the team is currently safe at Camp Two – which is at an altitude of 6400mt.
Mr Lawless and Ms Copeland set out on the expedition in a bid to raise funds for Barretstown Children’s Charity, which supports seriously ill children and their families.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Irish explorer and adventurer Pat Falvey who has scaled the mountain twice, said he remained hopeful of a positive outcome.
“Of course there is always hope in relation to Seamus being found but at the moment what one has to do is just to wait and to pray and to pray for the family and the friends.”
Barretstown CEO Dee Ahearn said: “This is a dreadfully upsetting and uncertain time for Seamus and his family.”
“Our thoughts, and indeed the thoughts of the entire Barretstown community, are with Seamus, his family and friends.”
Everest
Mr Lawless is an Assistant Professor in Artificial Intelligence at Trinity’s School of Computer Science and Statistics.
In a statement the College said: “Seamus and his family are in our thoughts during this extremely distressing time.”
“We hope that Seamus is found safely as soon as possible and until then we will be offering any support we can to his family.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that it is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance to his family.
