KATHAMANDU – Two more climbers have died on Everest, expedition organisers said today, bringing the number of deaths on the world’s highest peak this spring climbing season to seven.
The latest fatalities were a 58-year-old Indian woman who said before her expedition that she had a pacemaker, and a Nepali member of a team clearing trash from the mountain.
Suzanne Leopoldina Jesus died at a hospital in the Nepal town of Lukla after the Indian mountaineer was airlifted from base camp due to illness.
“We brought the Indian climber to Lukla from the base camp in a helicopter yesterday as she was sick and could not climb,” Da Dendi Sherpa, managing director at Glacier Himalaya Treks and Expedition, told AFP.
Jesus had raised funds for her climb with the slogan, “Everest expedition and back on a pacemaker, at the age of 58".
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.
Yesterday, 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. – AFP, May 18, 2023
