Canadian filmmaker Elia Saikaly was sipping tea in the mess tent at Everest Base Camp when it happened.
The ground shook. He says he knew immediately it was an earthquake, and he knew what would come next: the avalanche.
"Before we knew it there was a 200-foot white tidal wave of snow coming straight towards us," Saikaly told CTV's Canada AM on Monday. Saikaly was speaking by phone from the slopes of Mount Everest in Nepal, where rescue efforts are underway at Everest Base Camp in the wake of Saturday's massive earthquake and avalanche in the area.
At least 18 climbers were killed in the avalanche. Saikaly says another 15 were evacuated with serious injuries on Sunday.
Meanwhile, helicopters have been ferrying dozens of climbers back to base camp from Mount Everest camps 1 and 2 on the slopes of the mountain. Saikaly says those climbers became stranded when the avalanche hit, but most were unharmed.
The Ottawa-born adventure filmmaker says he was fortunate to be on the west end of Everest Base Camp when the quake and avalanche hit. The avalanche devastated the centre of the 1.2-kilometre-wide camp but left the western side "relatively untouched," Saikaly said.
"You saw gigantic boulders, rock debris, dust, poles, crampons 鈥� all being flung a hundred miles an hour, hitting people in the head," Saikaly said.
Saikaly saw many climbers and Sherpa guides killed in the avalanche. Some survivors were too wounded to walk. Others stumbled about despite their injuries. The avalanche left "sheer devastation" in its wake, Saikaly said.
Another climber managed to capture video of the "white tidal wave" of snow as the avalanche hit. The video shows a handful of climbers panicking and hiding behind their base camp tents as the video sweeps over them. The climbers survive the avalanche and are shown stumbling across the devastated campsite before the video stops.
The clip has more than 5.5 million views on YouTube.
Warning: the video contains offensive language.
Saikaly has been posting photos of the rescue efforts on social media. The images show ruined yellow tents, scattered piles of damaged hiking equipment and beleaguered hikers picking through the debris.
In one of his posts, Saikaly described the conditions as "horrific.鈥�
Everest Base Camp in Nepal is one of two camps near the base of the mountain. The Nepal site is on the south side of Mount Everest, while the Tibetan Everest Base Camp is located on the north side.
