“The ground is shaking,” a man’s voice says, sounding incredulous. “Shit,” he says, amid giggles of disbelief from others. Then, seconds later, the camera swings around to see something truly horrifying: a wall of snow and debris descending from all directions, about to engulf a collection of tents.
The video was uploaded to a YouTube channel operated by Jost Kobusch, a German mountaineer attempting to climb Mount Everest, on Sunday. The title suggests that the footage captures one of the avalanches that struck Everest during the massive quake that hit Nepal on Saturday, killing more than 2,400 people and injuring about 5,900. Kobusch also posted the video to his Twitter account—though it’s still unclear if he took the footage himself; Mother Jones has reached out to him for confirmation. Nepalese officials say that multiple avalanches triggered by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed at least 17 climbers and injured at least 37 others, with many still unaccounted for.
Warning: This video contains repeated explicit language, and is simply very scary, as it documents the climbers sheltering in a tent, and the intense panic in the immediate aftermath of the avalanche:
