Australian Counsellor Renu Fotedar Killed In Everest Avalanche Caused By Nepal Earthquake

Australian counselor Renu Fotedar has been confirmed to have been killed in Nepal after the massive earthquake on Saturday. She was there in Nepal to climb the Mount Everest.

Fotedar was one of the climbers who were killed in an avalanche caused by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake. The avalanche killed at least 19 people at the Mount Everest base camp. According to expedition leaders, the deceased include Chinese, Australian and American citizens.

The 49-year-old woman’s death was confirmed by Dreamers Destination. The trekking company is trying to return her body to Kathmandu. Fotedar’s social media profile says that she completed an MBA at the University of Wollongong and then set up a business in Melbourne in 2005.

Fotedar is described as a transpersonal counselor who has worked in India, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. The Melbourne woman grew up in Kashmir, India. She is survived by her two children, aged 15 and 17.

Her official website welcomes people with a quote by Joseph Campbell. The quote is about seeking the meaning of life. If Fotedar believed in the philosophy of the quote, she was apparently seeking “an experience of being alive” so that her life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within her innermost being and reality, so that she actually feels the rapture of being alive.

There are several testimonials given by people about how Fotedar was as a person. "She helped me to reconnect to my core being, to my womanhood and to the passions in my life which I had shut myself from as a result of a very traumatic relationship,” an anonymous person wrote. Fotedar, on the other hand, wrote that she could support and encourage people in their own journey towards vibrant health, art of creative living, and finding their own uniqueness.

According to authorities, more than 850 Australians have been found to be safe in Nepal. However, there have been hundreds more who are still unaccounted for. According to reports, eighty Australians are camping on the grounds of the Australian embassy in Kathmandu. Dozens of climbers are still trapped at camps on the higher reaches of the Everest.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au