A fundraising campaign has been launched in a bid to locate and bring home Irish climber Seamus Lawless, who is missing on Mount Everest.
On Thursday, the 39-year-old from Bray, Co Wicklow reached the summit of the mountain.
However, he's believed to have fallen during the descent and has been missing since.
The Lawless family has now launched a fundraising campaign in a bid to raise funds for a team of expert Sherpas to locate Seamus.
More than €130,000 - almost 20% of the final goal - has already been raised since the GoFundMe campaign was launched yesterday evening.
According to the Lawless family, they're raising funds with an "extremely heavy heart".
They say: "Time is of the essence in the search mission and the costs of running this mission are substantial.
"At this moment in time we have little to no information about what happened on Thursday 16th May, nor do we know the current location of Shay.
"It is our priority to locate him and bring him home and we appreciate all the support that can be offered as we face this hugely challenging situation."
Mr Lawless is an Assistant Professor in Artificial Intelligence at Trinity’s School of Computer Science and Statistics.
Today, the Dublin university confirmed there will be a vigil for the missing academic on campus this evening.
It will be held in the Trinity Long Room Hub from 8:15pm.
The university said: "Together as a community who knows Shay for his spirit and kindness, his strength and his resilience, and above all for his dreams and visions, we want to light a candle together to not lose sight of the light itself and to carry our hopes and thoughts as far as only light can carry them."
Everest search
Seamus was one of three Irish climbers to reach the summit of Everest on Thursday.
The other two members of the Irish team - Noel Hanna and Jenny Copeland - have now safely reached a lower camp.
Mr Lawless and Ms Copeland set out on the expedition in a bid to raise funds for Barretstown Children’s Charity, which supports seriously ill children and their families.
The search for the missing was officially suspended yesterday afternoon amid high winds and freezing temperatures of -27C with a wind chill making it feel as low as -42C.
Today's attempt to locate Séamus on #Everest proved unsuccessful and will resume when weather clears. Rest of the team are at Camp 2 (6400m). It has been a traumatic 24 hours for the Lawless family and for Noel & Jenny. Keep them all in your thoughts at this very difficult time. pic.twitter.com/lH5rxdPAJa
— Paul Devaney (@Irish7Summits) May 17, 2019
Explorer and adventurer Pat Falvey explained that it's too dangerous to carry out a search for now.
He explained: "The winds are still high, the temperatures are still cold.
"The rescue teams have now been called down, mainly because of the fact that it's too dangerous - at 8,000 metres and above... it would mean that it could create fatalities."
Trinity College has previously said it is offering "any support we can" to Seamus' family.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed it is providing consular assistance.
