The body of an Indian climber has been found on the upper slopes of Mount Everest, raising the death toll on the world’s tallest mountain this year to four.
Sherpas searching for two Indian climbers missing for more than a week located the body of Paresh Nath, 58, above the South Col at an altitude of 7,900m (25,900ft), officials said on Friday. Goutam Ghosh, a policeman from West Bengal, was still missing on the mountain.
“They are bringing the body down while the search for another Indian climber is continuing,” said Wangchu Sherpa of the Trekking Team Nepal, the company that organised the Indians’ expedition.
About 400 climbers have reached the top of Everest this month, the first time they were on the mountain after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake set off an avalanche that killed at least 18 people at Base Camp a year ago.
On Friday, a rescue helicopter brought the body of Australian climber Maria Strydom from Everest to the Nepali capital of Kathmandu. Strydom, 34, was nearing the 8,850-metre (29,035ft) summit when she fell ill with altitude sickness and had to turn back. She died last Saturday.
“Her body has now been brought to Kathmandu from the mountain,” said Phu Tenzi Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks that organised her expedition.
Strydom’s husband, Robert Gropel, who was in her team and also suffered altitude sickness, was airlifted to Kathmandu early this week.
Arnold Coster, who led the expedition, said Seven Summit Treks was as prepared as any. The Dutch mountaineer said he had personally selected climbers, and Strydom and Gropel had three experienced sherpas between them.
Gropel said the pair began their summit bid in clear weather, departing from Camp 4, but at the South Summit at nearly 8,000 metres, Strydom slowed, stricken by altitude sickness.
Gropel also began to suffer from a lack of oxygen, hampering his thought processes.
“It took a while for me to register that I had medication, and so as soon as I realised I gave her a dexamethasone injection,” Gropel told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
With the medication and more oxygen brought up by sherpas, Strydom improved and was making her way down. She then collapsed suddenly and could not be revived.
Coster responded to criticisms the group did not sleep at Camp 3, saying that can also weaken climbers.
Sherpa climbers brought Strydom’s body down the mountain to Camp 2 (6,400 metres) on Wednesday, from where a rescue helicopter plucked it to Kathmandu.
On Thursday, rescuers brought down the body of a 36-year-old Dutchman, Eric Ary Arnold, who died on 20 May while on descent from the summit.
Subash Paul, a 43-year-old Indian mountaineer, died last Sunday.
Everest has been climbed by over 7,300 people since Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary made their pioneering ascent in 1953. The deaths this month take the toll to at least 283.
