text: Tents crushed by snow, belongings strewn across the mountainside and a desperate scramble to find any injured victims: this is the chaotic scene after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake sparked an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing 18 people. Before and after images show how the wave of snow, ice and rock flattened the usually serene 18,000-foot-altitude base camp on Saturday. The avalanche started on Mount Kumori, a 23,000-foot-high mountain just a few miles from Everest, and gathered strength as it tore across the world's highest peak. Half an hour after the initial quake, another magnitude-6.6 aftershock hit, followed by smaller aftershocks across the region. Eighteen people died in the avalanche, including four Americans, and 61 were injured, according to Nepal's mountaineering department. Scroll down for videos . Covered: An image, left, shows Everest Base Camp as it usually looks in April compared to how the same place looked following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on Saturday. Survivors have recalled how they felt themselves being dragged by the wind and snow and emerged to find the camp destroyed . Before the storm: The snow-covered scenes are in start contrast to how the base camp (seen in 2013) usually looks at this time of year . Flattened: But on Saturday, an avalanche pummeled the campers at the 18,000-foot-altitude base camp, leaving it covered with snow . American Google executive Dan Fredinburg, 33, was the first confirmed fatality on the mountain. New Jersey-born Dr Marisa Eve Girawong, 29, was also killed by the avalanche where she worked as a medic for Madison Mountaineering. A third American, Tom Taplin, 61, who owned TET Films & Photography, was making a documentary when the earthquake hit, NBC News reported. His wife Corey Fryer told the station he died 'doing what he loved'. On Sunday the first survivors were flown off Everest by aid helicopters and began sharing their incredible stories of survival. Bhim Bahudar Khatri, a cook for a climbing team, said: 'I was cooking for my team in the meal tent when the earthquake hit. We all rushed out to the open and the next moment a huge wall of snow just piled on me. 'I managed to dig out of what could easily have been my grave. I wiggled and used my hands as claws to dig as much as I could. I was suffocating, I could not breathe. But I knew I had to survive. 'I dug a few more feet until I was out of the snow and could breathe. I looked around and saw the tents all torn, crushed and many people injured. I had lived, but lost many of my friends.' An Everest guide, Pemba Sherpa, 43, added: 'I was resting in my tent when the earthquake hit. I heard a big noise and the next thing I know I was swept away by the snow. I must have been swept almost 200 meters. I lost consciousness. Wreckage: People look over the scene on Saturday after the earthquake triggered the avalanche that flattened parts of the base camp . Deadly: An image from Sunday shows a tent completely flattened by the avalanche, which left 18 people dead on Saturday . Carried to safety: Rescuers use a makeshift stretcher to carry an injured person after the massive avalanche on Saturday . Changed landscape: Another photograph shows the base camp following the huge avalanche on Saturday . Fight for survival: One survivor recalled 'a huge wall of snow' falling on him and how he had to claw his way out to survival . Recovery: A group is seen carrying an injured climber in their sleeping bag; more than 60 people were injured in the incident . Mountaineering instructor Chris Harling, 41, from Keswick, Cumbria, has spoken of the terrifying moment he felt the ground 'turn to jelly under his feet' after the earthquake hit Mount Everest . 'When I regained consciousness, I was in a tent surrounded by foreigners. I did not know what happened or where I was.' He said the toll on Everest was sure to rise: 'There are still many people who are still missing on the mountain. There were several tents buried by the snow, several blown away.' Michael Churton, a filmmaker from New York, was with four other colleagues at the base camp when the earthquake hit, and he said that it took about 45 seconds for the avalanche to finish. 'I told the group to get down,' he said. 'It was about 4,000 feet of snow just coming and there was nowhere to run.' After curling up into a fetal position, he was thrown into a rock, which left him with cuts to his face and a black eye - but he was otherwise uninjured. Mountaineering instructor Chris Harling, 41, from Keswick, Cumbria, has spoken of the terrifying moment he felt the ground 'turn to jelly under his feet' after the earthquake hit Mount Everest. Speaking from his sleeping bag at base camp on the north side of the mountain, the experienced climber said his group took cover after rocks the size of cars came crashing down around them. 'At first we could feel the trembling under the tent, but it was eerie as there was no noise, it was silent. Then it felt like we were shaking on a huge plate of jelly,' he said. 'It was so strange feeling the ground turn to jelly under our feet and we thought the mountain would start crashing down on us.' The instructor from Adventure Peaks, who was leading a group of eight clients on their first trip up the mountain, said the area was badly hit by rock falls, but they all escaped injury. Killed: Three Americans died on the mountain: Dr Marisa Eve Girawong, 29, (left), who was working as a medic at the time, Google exec Dan Fredinburg, 33, (center with his ex-girlfriend, actress Sophia Bush) and documentary filmmaker Tom Taplin, 61 (right) Heading out: Rescuers carry a sherpa injured by the avalanche. The quake is believed to have killed more than 4,000 people . Heading home: A rescue helicopter prepares to land on Sunday and the first survivors were carried off the mountainside . 'Sure enough, an area of steep cliffs did break off sending car sized boulders hurtling down only a few hundred metres from our tents. We are still feeling aftershocks hours later. 'We were very lucky as no one in our group has been injured, but one climber was struck by a boulder.' He said their main priority was now working out how to leave base camp and make their way home, as the road to Kathmandu has been obliterated by the quake. 'We are trapped and have nowhere to go, we can't get back to Kathmandu, the road has been completely destroyed and there is absolutely no way to get through.' Climber Garrett Madison, who runs Seattle-based firm Madison Mountaineering, described how he was leading his group up the mountain when he heard the terrifying sound of avalanches. 'We heard an awful noise and heard avalanches coming down either side of the valley,' he said. 'We thought we were going to get wiped out but we were only dusted by a snow cloud. We proceeded up to Camp Two and contacted Base Camp where we heard of the awful destruction.' On Monday, it emerged that the death toll from the earthquake has risen to 4,400 people, with more than 8,000 injured. The toll is expected to rise as assessments are made in vulnerable mountain villages that have been inaccessible since the quake. Nepalese officials have speculated that the number of casualties could reach as high as 10,000.
target: Photographs taken after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake sparked an avalanche on Mount Everest on Saturday show the campsite buried beneath snow and belongings strewn across the mountain .
  Eighteen people were killed in the avalanche, including three Americans, and more than 60 were injured .
  Survivors recalled harrowing tales of being pummeled by snow and rocks as they prayed for their lives .
  The massive earthquake is believed to have killed at least 4,352 people across the region .