Two climbers die on Everest, toll reaches 7

Two climbers die on Everest, toll reaches 7

The primary school teacher aimed to be Asia’s first person on a pacemaker and the oldest Indian to climb Everest, the Himalayan Times reported.

“We tried to send her to Kathmandu. But due to the bad weather conditions, the helicopter could not fly to Kathmandu. She was admitted to a local hospital in Lukla where she died this morning,” Sherpa said.

In the other death, a Nepali trash collector died on Tuesday while descending. He was part of an annual mountain clean-up campaign by Nepal’s army.

“Work is underway to bring his body back,” Pasang Sherpa from expedition company Peak Promotion told AFP.

Nepal has issued 478 permits for Everest to foreign climbers this season, which runs until early June.

Since most will need a guide, more than 900 people in total will try to summit.

On Wednesday, a Moldovan climber died at Camp Four en route to the top.

Three Nepali climbers perished last month when a block of glacial ice fell and swept them into a crevasse as they were crossing the treacherous Khumbu icefall on a supply mission.

A 69-year-old US mountaineer also died this month during an acclimatisation rotation at an altitude of around 6,400m.

On average, around five climbers die every spring climbing season on Everest.

But in 2019, 11 people died, with four of the deaths blamed on overcrowding on the mountain.