Military Evacuates Stranded Tourists Near Mt. Everest

Flights are still grounded at the air strip closest to Mt. Everest, stranding around 2,000 foreign tourists, including some Americans, in the small town of Lukla in eastern Nepal.

Read: Bad Weather Strands Thousands near Mt. Everest

"Again the weather was very bad today," wrote Phurba Gyeljen Sherpa, proprietor The Irish Pub and Internet Café. "Very few airplanes were able to go out and the Americans here, and other nationalities, have grown weary and frustrated."

The military stepped in and posted flyers at the airport telling people not to pay more than $350 for private helicopter companies.

"Then they flew in large MI-17 military transport helicopters, cable of carrying 24 people each," continued Sherpa.

The military chose who would fly out first by who was stranded there the longest, instead of those willing to pay the most money.

Since there was only a brief period of good weather, the military quickly ferried the stranded people to a nearby airstrip in Ramechhap, where the weather was more stable.

When the weather destabilized, the military returned to Ramechhap and tourists to Kathmandu.

Slightly over 75 percent of westerners were evacuated.