British Man Dies During Everest Climb, Death Toll Reaches 10

Kathmandu, May 26, 2019:

In a tragic incident, a British climber who was too weak to descend the treacherous clim down the world's tallest peak, Mount Everest, has died on Saturday, officials said.

He is the tenth climber to die on Mount Everest and the eighteenth on the Himalayas during the current climbing season that ends this month.

Mira Acharya, a tourism department official, said that the 44 years old British man, Robin Haynes Fisher, died in the so-called "death zone" known for low levels of oxygen while descending from the summit.

According to Murari Sharma of the Everest Parivar Treks company that arranged his logistics, he was descending with his sherpa guides from the summit when he suddenly fainted.

Fellow guides changed Fisher's oxygen bottle and offered him water, but could not save him, Sharma said.

It may be mentioned that on Friday, 56-year-old Irishman Kevin Hynes died in his tent at 7,000 metres after turning back before reaching the summit, UK-based climbing company 360 Expeditions said in a statement.

That same day, Nepalese guide Dhurba Bista, 33, also died at the base camp after being airlifted from a higher camp following illness, according to his employer, Anil Bhattarai of Himalayan Ecstasy Treks.

Three Indians - two women and one man - died earlier this week during their descent after scaling the peak, as hundreds of climbers pushed for the summit while taking advantage of this week's weather windows.

Earlier this month, a US climber and an Indian climber also died during their descent from Everest. An Austrian climber died on the Tibetan side of the 8848-metre peak.

Hiking officials have attributed most of the deaths to weakness, exhaustion and "traffic" on the crowded route to the 8,850-metre (29,035 feet) summit.

It may be mentioned that hundreds of climbers from all over the world attempt to scale the peak during the climbing season, which offers a window of opportunity to those seeking to make the historic climb.

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