Tinley Park Brother, Sister Home Safe From Nepal Trip
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- The family of two climbers from the Chicago area is relieved to have them home.
Rob Besecker and his sister are now home and safe after surviving the Nepal earthquake. Both had been in the country to trek to Mount Everest's base camp.
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports it was a journey Rob undertook for an inspirational book he is writing.
His older sister was along for support, but she got sick on the climb and was helicoptered back to Kathmandu. Rob was down from the base and in the mountain town of Lukla when the earth began to shake.
"It was really scary," he said. "All of the sudden, everything started shaking. For about 15 seconds you are just kind of reacting by sitting there and your eyes are wide open like a deer in headlights and you're looking around and you see things start falling off the wall and you then realize it's an earthquake."
Rob is injury free but his sister discovered she had three cracked ribs several days after coming back home.
Both say the destruction is overwhelming but yet, days after the quake, they saw glimpses of the Nepali people's optimistic spirit.