Manaslu Tragedy. A heavy blow struck the Croatian Manaslu expedition from Yugoslavia led by Vinko Marevec when on April 24 Nejc (Jernej) Zaplotnik and Ante Bucan were killed in an avalanche of rock and ice. Their companion, Srecko Gregov was badly injured. They were only 100 meters above Camp I at 14,450 feet on the Manaslu Glacier. The team was hoping to make a new route, via the dangerous south face and then the south ridge. They already had established four high camps and had reached a high point of 23,300 feet. The attempt was given up after the accident. Zaplotnik, a Slovene, was one of the foremost Himalayan climbers. He had made new routes on three 8000ers: Makalu’s south face, Hidden Peak’s southwest ridge and Mount Everest’s entire west ridge.

Franci Savenc, Planiska Zveza Slovenije, Yugoslavia