KATHMANDU, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Teams led by Nepal Army have collected over 33 tons of wastes, including human skeletons, from the world's tallest Mt. Qomolangma and three other mountains in a two-month-long cleaning campaign that concluded on Sunday.
The cleaning teams involving a total of 92 individuals started their work on April 5 on Mt. Qomolangma (8,848.86m), Mt. Lhotse (8,516m), Mt. Kanchenjunga (8,586m) and Mt. Manaslu (8,163m), which attract climbers from around the world each year.
"Our teams collected 33,877 kilograms of wastes from the four mountains along with skeletons of two human bodies," Himansu Khadka, a Nepal Army brigadier general, said at a press conference.
The cleaning teams had sorted out biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes, which weighed 7,227kg and 26,650kg respectively, and the skeletons recovered from the base camp of Mt. Kanchenjunga were handed over to Taplejung district police for identification and cremation.
The Nepal Army has been leading the clean campaign since 2019, and a total of 27.6 tons of wastes were collected in 2021 and 10 tons in 2019. The campaign was suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The cleaning is necessary to save the biodiversity of the mountains and lessen the impact of climate change," Prabhu Ram Sharma, chief of Army Staff of the Nepal Army, said at the press conference. ■