Climbers tell of being stranded in Himalayas after losing kit

A British mountaineer and her American companion who were stranded in the Himalayas for three days without food have described the long silence between them after most of their equipment plunged into a ravine.

- Jamie Grierson

Fay Manners, 37, and Michelle Dvorak, 31, had been climbing Chaukhamba, a mountain in northern India, when they issued an SOS message on Thursday, with nothing further being heard from them.

The pair reported they had lost their tent and climbing equipment after the items were dragged into a ravine by a rockfall.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Manners described the moment their gear vanished. "There was a big, big, long sense of silence between us," she said. "There weren't too many words to begin with, to be honest, it was more just the gaze that we had between us, the look of just disappointment and disbelief.

"I think we were in silence for probably at least two or three minutes before we said anything. I think we both knew what was to come."