Everest quake devastation
The catastrophic earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015 sparked a series of avalanches on Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain, leaving 18 hikers dead and Everest Base Camp in ruins. A desperate rescue has been underway ever since, with helicopters picking up stranded hikers at higher elevations all over the mountain and bringing them to relative safety at base camp.
In this photo, prayer flags frame a rescue helicopter as it airlifts the injured on April 26, 2015.
Everest quake devastation
An Injured Sherpa guide sits inside a bus after they were evacuated from Mount Everest Base Camp, April 26, 2015.
The first group of survivors from an earthquake-triggered avalanche that swept through Mount Everest Base Camp were flown to Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, on Sunday and taken to hospitals.
Of those evacuated, 12 were Nepalese Sherpas.
Everest quake devastation
A helicopter prepares to rescue people from camp 1 and 2 at Everest Base Camp, April, 27, 2015.
Everest quake devastation
A man helps an injured woman after she is checked by a doctor at the International Mount Guide (IMG) camp at Everest Base Camp, April 26, 2015.
Everest quake devastation
U.S. citizen Michael Churton, 38, from New York, who was injured during an avalanche resulting from Saturday’s earthquake at the base camp of Mount Everest, arrives at the domestic airport in Kathmandu, April 27, 2015.
Saturday's magnitude 7.8 earthquake spread horror from Kathmandu to small villages and the slopes of Mount Everest, triggering an avalanche that buried part of the base camp packed with foreign climbers preparing to make their summit attempts.
Everest quake devastation
The Mount Everest south base camp in Nepal is seen a day after a huge earthquake-caused avalanche killed 18 people, including four Americans.
Everest quake devastation
Nepali sherpas and other Nepali expediton members watch as a rescue helicopter takes off with the injured from Everest Base Camp on April 26, 2015, a day after an avalanche triggered by an earthquake devastated the camp.
Everest quake devastation
Survivors look through the tattered remains at Everest Base Camp, April 25, 2015.
Everest quake devastation
An injured person is loaded onto a rescue helicopter at Everest Base Camp on April 26, 2015, one day after a massive avalanche devastated the camp.
Everest quake devastation
Rescuers use a makeshift stretcher to carry an injured person after an avalanche triggered by an earthquake flattened parts of Everest Base Camp, April 25, 2015.
Everest quake devastation
Rescuers carry a sherpa injured by an avalanche that flattened parts of Everest Base Camp, April 25, 2015.
Everest quake devastation
Rescuers tend to a sherpa injured by an avalanche that flattened parts of Everest Base Camp, April 25, 2015 after the earthquake that struck Nepal.
Rescuers in Nepal are searching frantically for survivors of a huge quake on April 25, that killed more than 4,000, digging through rubble in the devastated capital Kathmandu and airlifting victims of an avalanche at Everest base camp.
Everest quake devastation
People look on at the devastation after an avalanche triggered by a 7.8 earthquake flattened parts of Everest Base Camp, April 25, 2015.
Everest quake devastation
A man approaches the scene after an avalanche triggered by Nepal's 7.8 earthquake swept through Everest Base Camp on Saturday, April 25, 2015.
The photographer, Azim Afif, and his team of four others from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) were among the survivors of that avalanche.
Everest quake devastation
A cloud of snow and debris triggered by the earthquake flies towards Everest Base Camp, moments ahead of flattening part of the camp in the Himalayas, April 25, 2015.