‘GoFundMe’ set up for Everest casualty, Puwei Liu
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched following the death on Everest of climber Puwei Liu last week.
The fundraising campaign has been set-up by his colleague and aims to help cover living expenses for the family as well as the retrieval of Puwei’s body.
The GoFundMe reads:
“My name is Yu Chen, a colleague of Dr. Puwei Liu. On behalf of Mrs. Qin Zuo, Puwei’s wife, I am helping her to set up this emergency fundraising to bring Puwei’s body home and to cover his family’s emergency college and living expenses. All funds will go directly into Mrs. Qin Zuo’s account.
“We are deeply saddened by the news that our beloved friend, devoted mountaineer Puwei passed away on May 12th, 2021 while trying to conquer Mount Everest. After successfully climbing Manaslu in 2017, the 4th most dangerous 8000m peak, Puwei set his goal on Mount Everest at the age of 55. Unfortunately, he became one of the season’s first casualties this year. He had reached the climbing feature named the Hillary Step, located between South Col and the summit, but had to return because of snow blindness and exhaustion. With the help of support team members and additional oxygen, he was brought back to the camp at South Col where he eventually died.
“Puwei is survived by his wife and three children, one in college, and the other two are seniors in high school ready for college in the Fall 2021. Your generous support will greatly help his family during this tragic moment.
“First part of the fund will be used to cover the cost of moving Puwei’s body back. The cost of moving the body from comp 3 to the city by helicopter will be over $25,000. And then moving the body from the city back to the US will be over $25,000. In total this part will be $50,000 at minimum.
“The second part of the fund will be used to help the family paying off emergency financial needs, including paying off current year’s tuition for three children as well as part of the daily expenses in the short term since his wife does not have stable and secure income at this moment. The estimated cost of this part will be $50,000 at minimum.
“Puwei is an avid photographer who loves to capture the beauty of the nature along his trips. At work, he is equally passionate about science and technologies. Puwei is a highly productive and accomplished innovator and has made significant contributions to America’s technology developments in the area of material science for electronic industry. He is very kind, approachable and has been mentoring many junior scientists and providing insightful help to many of his colleagues. We are so heartbroken to lose him and hope our little efforts can help his family getting through this difficult times.”
