THE BODIES OF four climbers were found inside a tent on Everest, an expedition organiser said today, taking the death toll on the world’s highest peak this spring season to 10.
The climbers were found at camp four – at 7,950 metres (26,085 feet) – yesterday by a rescue team who were there to retrieve the body of a Slovak climber who died on the mountain on Sunday.
“Our rescuers found bodies of four climbers in a tent at camp four yesterday. We don’t have the details of who they are or how they died yet,” said Mingma Sherpa, head of Seven Summits Trek, a Kathmandu-based agency that runs expeditions and rescue operations on the mountain.
Local media reported that two of the dead were foreign climbers and two were Sherpa guides.
The Nepal government liaison officer stationed at base camp could not immediately be reached for confirmation.
Four people perished on the 8,848 metre peak over the weekend, including American doctor Roland Yearwood and Slovak climber Vladimir Strba.
Both died above the 8,000 metre mark – an area known as the mountain’s “death zone” where oxygen levels fall to dangerously low levels, heightening the risk of altitude sickness.
The body of Indian climber Ravi Kumar, 27, was spotted on Monday, two days after he reached the summit and then lost contact. A rescue operation is currently under way to retrieve his body.
An Australian climber died on the Tibet side of the mountain on Sunday.
This season has also claimed the lives of legendary Swiss climber Ueli Steck and 85-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan, who died attempting to reclaim his title as the world’s oldest person to climb Everest.
More than 382 climbers have successfully reached the summit from the south side so far this season, with at least 120 doing so from the Tibet side.
Many are still waiting to make their final push to the summit before the monsoon arrives in early June, marking the end of the short spring climbing season.
Last year Everest claimed the lives of five climbers. In all, 640 people reached the summit.
Irish man John Burke successfully managed to climb the world’s highest mountain last week, and described his final night as “hell on earth”.
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