Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli (3rd R, back) poses with the expedition team set to remeasure the height of Mt. Qomolangma in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 10, 2019. An expedition team assigned by the Nepali government left for Mt. Qomolangma on Wednesday to remeasure the height of the world's tallest mountain. (Xinhua/Krishna Poudyal/PMO)
KATHMANDU, April 10 (Xinhua) -- An expedition team assigned by the Nepali government left for Mt. Qomolangma on Wednesday to remeasure the height of the world's tallest mountain.
Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli bid farewell to the team members at the Prime Minister's Office in the capital.
The prime minister called on the government-nominated climbers to derive the true height of the peak. "It will be the authentic data regarding the height of the tallest peak once you come up with the report," he told the climbers.
According to the Depart of Survey of Nepal, four government officials, namely Khimlal Gautam, Rabin Karki, Suraj Singh Bhandari and Yuvaraj Dhital, are among members of the expedition team who are assigned to re-measure the height of Mt. Qomolangma.
The Nepali government's efforts to remeasure the height of Mt. Qomolangma comes amid speculations from various quarters that the world's tallest mountain has shrunk after the devastating earthquake which struck the country in 2015.
Although expedition teams from various countries measured the altitude of Mt. Qomolangma and produced diverse results, Nepal has never became part of those expedition teams in the past.
Nepal has so far recognized 8,848 metres as the altitude of the mountain which was measured by the Survey of India in 1954, according to officials of the Department of Survey of Nepal.
China which first measured the height of the mountain in 1975 reassessed the summit in 2005, measuring the height peak's rock base 8,844.43 meters covered by 3.5 meters snow.
