Three US citizens dead in Nepal earthquake

Washington: Three Americans have died in the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal, the US State Department said on Sunday, including a woman who died when an avalanche triggered by the temblor struck the climbers` base camp on Mount Everest.

The woman, Marisa Eve Girawong, was a physician`s assistant who worked for Madison Mountaineering, a Seattle-based guide service, according to Kurt Hunter, the company`s co-founder and chief technology officer.

"She was quite beloved by our entire team," Hunter said in a telephone interview on Sunday. "We’re deeply saddened by her loss."

Girawong, who was from Edison, New Jersey, according to media reports, was among more than a dozen people who perished in the Mount Everest avalanche.

All told, more than 2,200 people have been reported dead after Saturday`s 7.9-magnitude quake.

A second American was Dan Fredinburg, a veteran Google Inc executive, who served most recently as head of privacy at Google X, a research division at the Mountain View, California-based technology company.

Fredinburg was climbing the world`s tallest peak with three other Google employees when the avalanche struck. None of his colleagues were injured, a company official said.