MORE THAN €225,000 has been donated online to help aid the search for Seamus Lawless, the Trinity College Dublin professor who went missing on Mount Everest last Thursday.
A GoFundMe page, set up by Mr Lawless' wife Pamela, has raised €228,889 towards its €750,000 goal as of Monday morning – with over 6,500 people having contributed to the appeal so far.
It comes after Tánaiste Simon Coveney confirmed that the Government would provide whatever assistance possible to find the Irish climber in Nepal's Himalayas.
"I have spoken to Pamela, his wife, on a number of occasions over the last 24 hours," he told RTÉ News.
The assistant professor shares a four-year-old daughter with his wife Pam (Image: GoFundMe)"She is a remarkable woman and she is going through a nightmare that many of us simply can’t imagine. I'd rather leave the conversations I've had with her private, if that's okay.
"We are willing to offer any support we can, either financial or organisational, she knows that."
Mr Lawless, 39, had been fulfilling a life-long dream of reaching the summit of Everest (8,848 metres) before his 40th birthday in July – which he achieved on Thursday morning as part of an eight-member climbing expedition.
The father-of-one – who is from Bray in Co. Wicklow – was also hoping to raise €25,000 for Barretstown, a charity which provides support for seriously ill children and their families.
However, the academic reportedly slipped while descending the peak of the world's highest mountain in an area known as 'The Balcony' – at an altitude of 8,300 metres – and has not been seen since.
A vigil for the missing assistant professor was held at Trinity College on Saturday evening.
