Americans Killed in Nepal Earthquake, Everest Avalanche

Eric Zerkel
Published: April 27,2015



 
At least four Americans were among the 18 killed after an avalanche sparked by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake swept through a base camp near Mount Everest, the U.S. State Department confirmed on Monday.
Tom Taplin, Dan Fredinburg, Marisa Eve Girawong and Vinh B. Truong were all killed in the wake of the Saturday quake and avalanche, according to NBC News.

Tom Taplin

Tom Taplin, 61, of Santa Monica, California, was in the process of filming a documentary about the base camp when the avalanche struck.
"It's shocking," Taplin's wife Cory Freyer, told NBC News. "All of his friends, and he has so many friends, every one of them is just devastated. Shocked."
(MORE: Over 4,000 Killed in Strongest Earthquake in 80 Years)

Dan Fredinburg

Dan Fredinburg, 33, was part of an expedition team that had been climbing Everest for three weeks when the avalanche hit the base camp. He was the head of Google X's privacy division and founded a climate change nonprofit organization, amongst other professional endeavors.
The Google executive and well-known adventurer previously survived a deadly avalanche at base Camp 1 in 2014, The Guardian reports.
“There was this massive shudder and I thought I was going to die," Fredinburg said of surviving the 2014 avalanche. "It was terrifying."
Fredinburg's sister Megan confirmed her brother's death in an Instagram post, which read in part:
"We appreciate all of the love that has been sent our way thus far and know his soul and his spirit will live on in so many of us," Fredinburg's sister said. "All our love and thanks to those who shared this life with our favorite hilarious strong willed man. He was and is everything to us. Thank you."

Marisa Eve Girawong

Marisa Eve Girawong in an undated Facebook photo.
(Facebook)

Marisa Eve Girawong was acting as the doctor for the base campwhen she was killed by the avalanche, according to her employer, mountaineering company Madison Mountaineering.
(MORE: At Least 18 Dead on Everest After Avalanche)
Girawong was in the process of completing a second Master's degree in mountain medicine at the University of Leicester before she was killed in the avalanche. She was 28 years old.
In a blog post on the company's website, Madison Mountaineering co-founder Kurt Hunter said, "Our hearts are broken. Our thoughts and prayers are with Eve and her family and friends."