KATHMANDU: Global Rescue LLC has denied any negligence in its handling of the rescue evacuation of an Australian climber who died on Himlung Himal last week.
Chin-Tark Chan, 49, a member of 8K Expeditions, fell ill at 6,800 meters on the morning of October 27 and died at noon on October 29.
In an email to The Himalayan Times (THT), Joe Hedges, Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for Global Rescue, refuted all claims made by 8K Expeditions. THT had published an article about Chan's death on October 31.
"Your article appears to have the sole intention of assisting 8K in deflecting responsibility for its own actions in this matter, and this will not be tolerated," the email stated. "The article is fundamentally incomplete, grossly misleading, and rife with material inaccuracies and omissions."
The email further accused the 8K Expeditions of acting unprofessionally and illegally by implying Global Rescue acted improperly "without any investigation or inquiry into the facts."
"Your publication has materially libeled and defamed our company by knowingly and negligently creating a false and damaging narrative regarding the nature of our business, our successful rescue operations in the region over decades of service, and the professionalism and efforts of our team in this case," the email read.
The vice president clarified that Global Rescue is not an insurer and stated that all quotes and information provided by Mingma Sherpa in the original story were misleading.
"Mingma Sherpa has no involvement or knowledge of this matter and is merely airing old grievances that were conclusively resolved in our favor years ago," the email added. "A simple investigation will reveal that Mingma Sherpa has been involved in a variety of activities in the Nepalese climbing, rescue, and helicopter community that authorities have found to be, at the very least, unethical. We will be proceeding against him personally for his statements in your article."
