MH370 - Searchers dispute company's claim that it may have found aircraft wreckage

By Miguel Marquez, David Molko and Holly Yan, CNN 
April 29, 2014 -- Updated 1641 GMT (0041 HKT)


Near Perth, Australia (CNN) -- A private company declared that it has found what it believes is wreckage of a plane in the ocean, but leaders of the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 are dismissing the claim.

The reasons for the skepticism are obvious -- the site where GeoResonance says it found the wreckage, in the Bay of Bengal, is several thousand miles away from the current search area in the southern Indian Ocean.

The Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which is coordinating the multinational search, dismissed the claim.

"The Australian-led search is relying on information from satellite and other data to determine the missing aircraft's location," the JACC said.

"The location specified by the GeoResonance report is not within the search arc derived from this data. The joint international team is satisfied that the final resting place of the missing aircraft is in the southerly portion of the search arc." Malaysian acting Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia "is working with its international partners to assess the credibility of this information."

GeoResonance said it analyzes super-weak electromagnetic fields captured by airborne multispectral images. "The company is not declaring this is MH370, however it should be investigated," GeoResonance said in a statement.

The company's director, David Pope, said he did not want to go public with the information at first, but his information was disregarded. "We're a large group of scientists, and we were being ignored, and we thought we had a moral obligation to get our findings to the authorities," he told CNN's "New Day" on Tuesday.

GeoResonance's technology was created to search for nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry under the ocean or beneath the earth in bunkers, Pope said. The company began its search four days after the plane went missing and sent officials initial findings on March 31, Pope said. It followed up with a full report on April 15.

By going public, the company says it hopes it will spur officials to take its claim seriously. Malaysian authorities contacted GeoResonance on Tuesday and were "very interested, very excited" about the findings, Pope said. Inmarsat, the company whose satellite had the last known contact with MH370, remains "very confident" in its analysis that the plane ended up in the southern Indian Ocean, a source close to the MH370 investigation told CNN.

The Inmarsat analysis is "based on testable physics and mathematics," the source said, and has been reviewed by U.S., British and Malaysian authorities as well as an independent satellite company. 

Aerial search ends

After seven weeks of intense but fruitless searching, the international air effort to find the plane is over. But some ships will stay on the Indian Ocean to gather any debris that might surface. More than 600 military personnel from at least seven countries solemnly posed in front of search planes Tuesday for a commemorative photo. Some traded military patches and mulled over their disappointment in not finding the Boeing 777.

Also on Tuesday, relatives of missing passengers heard new details from officials, including audio recordings from the plane that had never been released to the public before. The final words between the cockpit and a control tower weren't extraordinary. But after 52 days in limbo, families say they're finally starting to get some of the answers they've been looking for. 

More intense underwater search

Most of the international air crews will leave the Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce, near Perth, over the next few days. The likelihood of finding any debris on the ocean's surface is "highly unlikely," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday. By now, most of the debris is probably waterlogged and has probably sunk, he said. So officials are moving on to the next phase: a more intense underwater search that will use private contractors and could cost about $56 million.

Crews will now scour a much larger area of the ocean floor -- 60,000 square kilometers. The process could take at least six to eight months, officials said. The Bluefin-21 underwater probe will continue scanning the ocean floor. But the submersible couldn't search Tuesday because of weather and very high seas.

No one knows exactly what happened to Flight 370, which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board. The plane was headed from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. 

New details for relatives

Relatives of Chinese passengers have been furious about the perceived lack of information given by Malaysian authorities. But on Tuesday, Malaysian officials briefed scores of family members in Beijing and played never-before-released audio of the plane's final chatter with a control tower. "Malaysia three seven zero contact Ho Chi Minh 120.9, good night," says a voice identified by Malaysian officials as that of a radar controller in Kuala Lumpur.

"Good night Malaysian three seven zero," answers a male voice believed to be a crew member on board. Officials also showed family members maps of the flight's route, including a questionable turn at Penang over the Strait of Malacca. That turn sent the plane veering far off course.

Malaysia Airlines representative Subas Chandran said the plane probably ran out of fuel about seven-and-a-half hours into the flight. Such details, while sobering, were welcomed by relatives. "They are making progress," said Jimmy Wang, a member of the families' committee aimed at seeking answers.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com

10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 240 (30/04/2014)

2391.            The Boeing 737 is nicknamed the Fat Albert.

2392.            Florida has twice as many lightning injuries and deaths than any other state.

2393.            Chocolate can be fatal to dogs. Chocolate contains a chemical the obromine,
    which is poisonous to dogs.

2394.            In China, there is a species of yam that is used to make a dye.

2395.            Annually, approximately 46 millions Cokes, five million pounds of french fries,
    and seven million hamburgers are consumed at Walt Disney World Resort.

2396.            The Chihuahua Desert is the largest desert in North America, and is over
    200,000 square miles.

2397.            Every continent begins and ends in the same letter. e.g. Africa, Europe.

2398.            Baseball games between college teams have been played since the Civil War.

2399.            The real name of actress Whoopi Goldberg is Caryn Elaine Johnson.

2400.            Researches have discovered that eating five or more apples a week is linked
    to better functioning of the lungs.

MAGIC - (2014) Dynamo and Director X Magic in London

10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 239 (29/04/2014)

2381.            There is a muppet named Kami that appears on the South African version of the
    T.V. show "Sesame Street" that is HIV-positive.

2382.            There are approximately one hundred million people in the United States that
    have a chronic illness.

2383.            The oldest working Post Office in the world is located in the village of Sanquer,
    located in the Scottish Lowlands. It has been operating since 1712.

2384.            Columbia University is the second largest landowner in New York City, after the
    Catholic Church.

2385.            Approximately three jars of peanut butter are sold every second.

2386.            In Australia, the average person uses 876 gallons of water daily. In Switzerland
    they use only 77 gallons of water per person daily.

2387.            Every person has a unique tongue print.

2388.            Hair will fall out faster on a person that is on a crash diet.

2389.            In 1890, there was no sunshine for the whole month of December in Westminster
    in London.

2390.            Charles Darwin spent 39 years studying earthworms.

HEALTHY EATING - 4 Food Journal Mistakes You Might Be Making

How To Keep A Food Journal

4 Food Journal Mistakes You Might Be Making

Fix these errors to drop more pounds

Published: April 11, 2014 | By Terri Huggins

Talk about the power of the pen: People who keep a food diary lose twice as much weight as those who don’t, according to a 2008 study published by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. But not all food journals are created equal. Here, Yvonne Q. Syto, R.D., points out some common mistakes that could be holding you back from greater weight loss.

Limiting Yourself to Pen and Paper Many dieters take the term "journal" literally and assume they need to have a physical document of what they're eating. "I can't tell you how many people come to my office with an empty notebook claiming they always leave it at home or they never have a pen with them so they can't fill it out," says Syto. If you know you won't use a notebook but always have your smartphone with you, use an app to keep track of what you eat. By the same token, if you know you'll be more diligent with pen and paper, then go with that.
Neglecting to List Portion Sizes You've documented everything that goes into your mouth but haven't lost a pound. It might be because you failed to mention you ate three handfuls of peanuts—not one—right before lunch. The problem isn't always eating too much, either. When you record the quantities of food you consume, you're more likely to notice if having a small breakfast leads to overdoing it at dinnertime (or what have you).

Only Writing Down Your Food There's a reason they call it emotional eating—but most people don't think to include that fight they had with their partner right before dinner. Did you eat an entire pint of ice cream last week because you were anxious about paying your student loans this month? Recording how you feel when you eat certain things can help you spot your emotional eating triggers.

Leaving Out How You Felt After You Ate Refraining from picking up that last piece of fried chicken might be easier if you had written down how you felt the last time you ate too much of it. It's important to keep track of your body's response to certain foods so you know which to avoid—or eat less of—to feel your best.

Source: http://www.womenshealthmag.com

MAGIC - Dynamo Magic - New Tricks at Miami Beach

10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 238 (28/04/2014)

2371.            Millie the White House dog earned more than 4 times as much as President Bush
    in 1991. And, rightfully so.

2372.            In an average lifetime, a person will spend 4 years travelling in an automobile and
    six months waiting at a red light.

2373.            A small drip from a faucet can waste up to 50 gallons of water daily, which is
    enough water to run a dishwasher twice on a full cycle.

2374.            Kotex was first manufactured as bandages, during W.W.I

2375.            The longest Monopoly game ever played was 1,680 hours long, which is seventy
    straight days.

2376.            The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C

2377.            Over 1,600 people in North America have been victims of trunk entrapment (being
    locked inside of a car trunk).

2378.            A rhinoceros horn is made of compacted hair.

2379.            In 1992, when EuroDisney first opened in France, the public beat some of the park
    characters because at the time most people had been against the park being built.

2380.            A jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. Thus the saying, I will be
    there in a jiffy.

10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 237 (27/04/2014)

2361.            On average 1,668 gallons of water are used by each person in the United States
    daily.

2362.            Copper is the second most used metal in the world.

2363.            Milton Bradley originally wanted to name the game Twister, Pretzel; but he could
    not since the name was copyrighted.

2364.            According to studies, men prefer to have white bedrooms and women prefer to
    have blue bedrooms.

2365.            If someone was to fly once around the surface of the moon, it would be equal to
    a round trip from New York to London.

2366.            St. Patrick never really drove out any snakes from Ireland. This story was an
    analogy of how he drove paganism out of Ireland.

2367.            Fat is important for the development of children and normal growth.

2368.            The most common seasonings found in American homes are chili powder,
    cinnamon, and seasoned salts.

2369.            People who have eaten beetles say that it tastes like apples.

2370.            Montreal was named after a local mountain "Mont Royal."

MH370 - New phase to include private contractors, may cost $60 million

By Kevin Liptak and Faith Karimi, CNN April 28, 2014 -- Updated 0442 GMT (1242 HKT) 


(CNN) -- The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane will be entering a new phase that will use private contractors and may cost about $60 million, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday.

"I regret to say that thus far none of our efforts in the air, on the surface or under sea, have found any wreckage," he said. The new phase will focus on searching the ocean floor over a much larger area -- 60,000 square kilometers, a process that will take about six to eight months.

"We do not want this crippling cloud of uncertainty to hang over this family and the wider traveling public," he said. It is "highly unlikely" that any debris will be found on the ocean surface, Abbott said. By this time, most of the debris will have become waterlogged and will have submerged, he said. As such, authorities will be suspending aerial searches.

Words of praise 

Malaysia's government has been widely criticized over its handling of the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and disclosures of its investigations. But on Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama had words of praise during a visit to the southeast Asian country. He said the Malaysian government has been "forthcoming" with the United States about the information it has.

"The Malaysian government is working tirelessly to recover the aircraft and investigate exactly what happened," Obama told reporters. He reiterated that the United States would continue to aid in the search and offered condolences to loved ones of those lost.

Narrowed search nears end

Obama's visit came as the initial search by the Bluefin-21 neared its end. The submersible, which is on contract to the U.S. Navy, had been scouring the ocean floor for traces of the plane. Previously, another device, a towed pinger locator, detected signals that officials believed were from the jet's flight recorders, which determined the current search area for the Bluefin. The plane disappeared on March 8 after leaving Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for Beijing.

Preliminary report

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has said a preliminary report on the plane's disappearance will be available to the public next week.

He also asked an internal investigation team to look into what other information may be released publicly next week, his office said.

The report has been sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the U.N. body for global aviation, but not yet made available to the public. The U.N. organization said among the safety recommendations in the report is a suggestion by Malaysia that the aviation world needs to look at real-time tracking of commercial aircraft.

It's the same recommendation that was made after Air France Flight 447 went down in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. "Anytime there is a tragedy like this, we ought to also reflect on what can be done going forward to prevent something similar from happening again," Obama said.

"That discussion has begun in Malaysia and around the world, and we'll see what improvements might be recommended to continue improving aviation security. One thing is already clear, however, is that large international efforts like this search operation benefit from existing partnerships among nations."

MH370 - Former Malaysian PM lays blame on Boeing for MH370 disappearance

Lindsay Murdoch South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Photo: AFP 

Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has questioned whether flight MH370 crashed into the southern Indian Ocean and has blamed Boeing, the plane’s maker, for its disappearance. Dr Mahathir, who maintains a powerful influence in his country’s ruling party, also suggested the reason why the passengers and crew never acted to stop whatever was happening on board was because they were “somehow incapacitated".

“Even if the pilot wants to commit suicide, the co-pilot and the cabin crew would not allow him to do so without trying something,” he said.

“But no one, not even the passengers, did anything.”

Writing in an opinion piece, Dr Mahathir questioned why no debris or oil slick from the plane has been found.

“Can it be that the plane remained intact on crashing and sank with no trace and no one launching the lifeboat doors, as we are told all these aircraft are equipped with?” he asked.

“Can one believe this plane quietly floated down into the raging sea and sank conveniently in the deepest part (seven miles deep) of the Indian Ocean?”

Dr Mahathir said it must have taken some effort if the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, disabled the plane’s communication system.

“The co-pilot would notice and for his own life he would have tried to do something … was he disabled? Were all the crew members and the passengers disabled?”

Dr Mahathir, 88, who was prime minister for 22 years from 1981, said he is upset that Malaysia Airlines staff were taken hostage by angry Chinese relatives of passengers in Beijing last week, “because they are blaming the wrong people".

Dr Mahathir, 88, who was prime minister for 22 years from 1981, said he is upset that Malaysia Airlines staff were taken hostage by angry Chinese relatives of passengers in Beijing last week, “because they are blaming the wrong people".

“The loss of the plane is due to the makers, Boeing. How can Boeing produce a plane that is so easily disabled?” he said.

Dr Mahathir said in an era where passenger planes can be tracked on mobile phone, and spy satellites operated by some countries can photograph and identify a person on the ground, Boeing must explain how all these means of tracking the plane “can be disabled, can fail”.

“Either Boeing technology is poor, or it is not fail-safe,” he said.

“I would not like to fly in a Boeing aircraft unless Boeing can explain how all its system can fail or be disabled.”

Dr Mahathir said Boeing, a multinational corporation based in Chicago, must “demonstrate possible ways for the communication system to be disabled”.

“Boeing must accept responsibility for building an aircraft that can disappear in mid-air so completely,” he said.

Boeing has sent experts to Kuala Lumpur to work with Malaysian and international aviation experts investigating the disappearance of the Boeing 777 with 239 people on board during a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

Boeing has not responded to Dr Mahathir's comments which were first published in his personal blog and then republished in several Malaysian news outlets.

Dr Mahathir’s comments will fuel scepticism among Malaysians that the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean 1500 kilometres west of Perth, where an Australian-led hunt has so far failed to find any trace of the airliner.

Malaysia plans this week to release a preliminary report into the disappearance - but, according to officials, it will shed little light on what happened.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au

MH370 - Search extended as no trace of jet found in target area

US navy's robotic submarine scours Indian Ocean seabed 

off Western Australia for missing aircraft's black box.

Associated Press in Canberra

• theguardian.com, Sunday 27 April 2014 06.15 BST

Relatives of passengers on the missing aircraft gathered in Beijing on Friday. Photograph: Andy Wong/AP

A robotic submarine scanning the floor of the Indian Ocean off Western Australia for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet is to begin searching outside the original designated area, where it has failed to find any trace of flight MH370.

The US navy's Bluefin 21 has been creating a three-dimensional sonar map of the ocean floor for more than two weeks, near to where signals that are consistent with an aeroplane’s black box were heard on 8 April.

The search area is a circle with a radius of 10km, at a depth of 4.5km.

The submarine was expected to complete the underwater search area and continue examining adjacent areas, the search co-ordinator said in a statement. The submarine spends four hours travelling to and from the seabed, and 16 hours searching. It takes another four hours for the data collected in each search to be returned for analysis.

Last week, the Australian defence minister, David Johnston, said that an announcement was likely this week on the next phase of the search. The aircraft vanished, with 239 passengers and crew on board, on 8 March on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Johnston said the next phase was likely to involve more powerful side-scan sonar equipment.

A daily air search for debris north-west of Perth was suspended on Sunday because of bad weather, the search centre said.

EVEREST - What Is a Sherpa?

What Is a Sherpa?

By By Marc Lallanilla, Assistant Editor | LiveScience.com – Wed, Apr 23, 2014

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The deaths last week of 16 guides in an avalanche on Mount Everest has increased global awareness of the region's close-knit Sherpa community and the risks some of these individuals take when helping climbers ascend the world's tallest peaks.

It's worth noting that the term "Sherpa" does not actually mean "mountain guide," as many people believe, but instead refers to an ancient ethnic community of some 154,000 members.

Most — but not all — of the guides who were killed in the recentEverest avalanche were Sherpas. Others came from one of the dozens of ethnic communities (Tamang, Gurung, etc.) found in the mountain passes and valleys of the Himalayas. [In Photos: Mount Everest Expeditions Then and Now]

What is a Sherpa?

The Sherpas, whose name translates roughly to "Easterners," are settled primarily in the mountainous Solukhumbu region of eastern Nepal, which is also home to Sagarmatha National Park and Mount Everest.

The Khumbu Valley, in the shadow of Mount Everest (which is known locally as Jomolungma, or "Sacred Mother") is inhabited by thousands of Sherpa families.

Most are Buddhists, though some practice Christianity, Hinduism or other religions, according to the Nepal Ethnographic Museum. The Sherpa language is related to other Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Nepal, Myanmar, China and elsewhere in Asia.

Before they achieved worldwide fame as mountaineers, the Sherpa were primarily known as nomadic cattle herders, high-altitude farmers, weavers and salt traders. (Long a regional staple, Himalayan salt has now achieved worldwide fame among gastronomists who value the mineral for its characteristic pink hue.)

Mountaineering legends

The economy and culture of the Sherpa people changed dramatically in the early 1900s, when mountaineers made Everest the ultimate destination for climbing, ushering in an era of mountain tourism.

Though it was once considered blasphemous to climb a sacred mountain, most Sherpas now regard their role as mountaineering guides with considerable pride.

During the three-month climbing season (which beings in spring), a lead Sherpa guide can earn as much as $6,000, according to the Washington Post. This is a staggering sum to many Nepalis, whose average monthly salary is just $48.

Mountaineering, of course, has many risks, and a safe return home is never guaranteed. According to an Outside magazine analysis of dangerous jobs, miners averaged 25 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent employees; U.S. soldiers in Iraq averaged 335 deaths; and Everest guides averaged 1,332 deaths, making mountaineering an even deadlier endeavor than warfare.

It's in their blood

In addition to a tradition of mountain living, the Sherpas may have a physiological anomaly that enables them to live and work at high altitudes longer than other people.

Rasmus Nielsen, a biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has studied the Sherpas' genealogy, has found that they produce fewer oxygen-carrying red blood cells at high altitudes. In contrast, most other people make more of these cells at high altitudes.

This distinguishes the Sherpas from mountain-dwelling groups in the South American Andes and other regions, according to USA Today. Sherpas "seem to function well in high altitude without producing as many red blood cells," Nielsen told USA Today. "No one knows for sure why."

Some of the most famous Sherpa mountaineers include Tenzing Norgay, who in 1953 became one of the first two people (along with Edmund Hillary) to conquer the summit of Mount Everest. In 2011, Apa Sherpa achieved celebrity status by climbing Everest 21 times — a world record.

EVEREST - Sherpas leave Everest; some expeditions nix climbs

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA | Associated Press – Wed, Apr 23, 2014

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KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Dozens of Sherpa guides packed up their tents and left Mount Everest's base camp Wednesday, after the deaths of 16 of their colleagues in an avalanche exposed an undercurrent of resentment by Sherpas over their pay, treatment and benefits.

With the entire climbing season increasingly thrown into doubt, the government quickly announced that top tourism officials would fly to base camp Thursday to negotiate with the Sherpas and encourage them to return to work.

But while Nepal's government has been heavily criticized for not doing enough for the Sherpas in the wake of last week's disaster, the deadliest ever on the mountain, one top official blamed the walkout on "hooligans."

"It was crowd behavior — some hooligans were creating problems, but things are getting back to normal," said Sushil Ghimire, secretary of Nepal's Tourism Ministry.

While it was unclear just how many of the 400 or so Sherpas on the mountain had joined the walkout, a number of expedition companies have already canceled their climbs, and the lucrative climbing season is in disarray. Most attempts to reach Everest's summit are made in mid-May, when a brief window normally offers better weather.

The Sherpas have no one leader, and those at basecamp said their walkout was for a variety of reasons, including to honor their dead friends. It was unclear whether they would return to work if the government accepts all their demands.

Immediately after the avalanche, the government said it would pay the families of each Sherpa who died 40,000 rupees, or about $415. But the Sherpas said they deserved far more — including more insurance money, more financial aid for the victims' families and new regulations to ensure climbers' rights.

Without the help of the Sherpas, who are key guides and also haul tons of gear up the mountain, it would be nearly impossible for climbers to scale Everest. Many climbers will have to forfeit most or all of the money they have spent to go up the mountain — $75,000 or more.

Thirteen bodies were recovered after Friday's avalanche. Three Sherpas were still missing in the ice and snow, and are presumed dead.

"It is just impossible for many of us to continue climbing while there are three of our friends buried in the snow," said Dorje Sherpa, an experienced Everest guide from the tiny Himalayan community that has become famous for its high-altitude skills and endurance. "I can't imagine stepping over them."

American climber Ed Marzec said by phone from the base camp that Sherpas were loading their equipment onto a helicopter.

"There are a lot of Sherpas leaving this morning, and in the next two days there will be a huge number that will follow," said Marzec, 67, who is from California. He said he had already decided to abandon his climb.

But Marzec said some smaller companies were hoping to go ahead with their summit attempts.

Tusli Gurung, a guide who was at base camp Wednesday, estimated that nearly half the Sherpas had left.

Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International announced it was calling off its expedition. "We have all agreed the best thing is to not continue this season's climb, so that all can mourn the loss of family, friends and comrades in this unprecedented tragedy," the company said on its website.

New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants also said it was canceling its expedition.

Family members of the dead Sherpas said they are angry at the government and worried about their future.

Ang Kaji left behind three sons, three daughters and elderly parents.

"Our father was the only one who earned in our family. We live in a rented apartment, our grandparents need regular medication, and all of us are still in school. We have no idea how we are going to support the family," said 17-year-old Phinjum, Kaji's second daughter.

Dali, 28, lost her husband Pen Tenji, 27, in the avalanche. His body is yet to be recovered.

She has a 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter and no other source of income to support them.

Friday's avalanche was triggered when a massive piece of glacier sheared away from the mountain along a section of constantly shifting ice and crevasses known as the Khumbu Icefall — a treacherous area where overhanging ice can be the size of office buildings.

The disaster has reignited a debate over the disproportionate risks the Sherpas take on Everest, where most climbers are well-heeled amateurs with little or no experience at high altitudes. That means Sherpas are needed to create miles (kilometers) of lines of fixed ropes, carve steps in the ice and snow and carry nearly all the equipment. At times, they are also "short-roped" directly to weak climbers to help them get up the mountain.

Because of their additional work, many have to pass through the Khumbu Icefall dozens of times, each time exposing themselves to the treacherous conditions there.

Nepal's government appeared to agree Tuesday to some of the Sherpas' demands, such as setting up a relief fund for those who are killed or injured in climbing accidents, but the proposed funding fell far short of the demands.

The government said it would stock the fund annually with 5 percent of its earnings from Everest climbing fees — well below the 30 percent the Sherpas are demanding. Nepal earns about $3.5 million annually in Everest climbing fees.

The insurance payout for those killed in the avalanche, which now stands at $10,400, will also be increased to $15,620, or 2 million rupees, the Ministry of Tourism said — far less than the Sherpas' demand for $20,800.

Nearly 30 climbers have died on the Icefall since 1963, most killed in avalanches or when they were crushed by huge chunks of ice.

More than 4,000 climbers have reached the top of the world's highest mountain since 1953, when it was first conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Hundreds of people have died trying.