SINGAPORE — It was not once but twice that the three members of Singapore’s Everest team had a close shave with the earthquake and avalanche that took the lives of thousands in Nepal.

This evening (May 4), teacher Nur Yusrina Yaakob, 28, and brothers Ismail Latiff, 36, and Zulkifli Latiff, 42, who are both Singapore Civil Defence Force officers, returned safely to Singapore, into the arms of anxious friends and relatives at Changi Airport.

Team captain Muhammad Hilwan Mohamed Idrus, 29, who was unable to make the trip and had remained behind in Singapore, told reporters that the three members of Aluminaid Team Singapura Everest were originally scheduled to start their climb to Camp 2 from base camp on April 25 — the day the earthquake struck. They had finished their climb from the Everest base camp to Camp 1 a few days earlier, and decided to delay their next ascent for one day. “Luckily they delayed it because if they did not, they would have been caught in the middle of the earthquake,” said Mr Hilwan, who suffered a stroke last year during a training expedition.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake caused an avalanche that engulfed part of the Everest base camp. The team was staying at the back of the camp, and emerged unscathed. “Our camp location was ... located at the far end, so we only experienced the tail-end of the big avalanche. So we were pretty lucky,” said Mr Zulkifli.

A fourth member, economics graduate Seumas Yeo, 26, was evacuated from Kathmandu on April 27 after sustaining an injury about two weeks earlier. He had surgery at a hospital in Kathmandu and was there when the earthquake occurred.

Dozens of family members, friends and representatives of the team’ sponsors had gathered at Changi Airport Terminal 2 for the team’s arrival. As the members walked through the arrival gate, applause and cheers broke out.

Mrs Rosnani Ismail, who was eagerly waiting the return of her daughter, said as she held back tears that she had kept in contact with Ms Yusrina everyday using WhatsApp. “Everyday I ask her how is she, whether there is any more tremors or quake. All of us kept praying for her (and) for the team,”  she said. When asked if she would stop her daughter from climbing Everest again, she said she would not as she knows it is her daughter’s passion.

Following the avalanche, the team had initially wanted to join the search and rescue efforts but were told by their Nepalese operator to stay at their camp. “We did a bit of manual labour. We assisted the wounded to the triage point. The bodies were managed by the Sherpas and local people there,” said Mr Zulkifli. They also passed around their satellite phones for the local mountain guides to call their families to check if they were safe.

For their safety and also out of respect for the Nepalese reeling from the tragedy, Mr Hilwan said the team and their sponsors decided to abort the mission. He added that there were no concrete plans to climb Everest again next year yet but the team is resolved in keeping its Everest dream alive.