A Kenyan climber has died at the summit of Everest, and his Nepali guide is missing, according to a tourism official, bringing the season’s total to at least three deaths on the world’s highest peak.
Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui, 40, and his Nepali guide Nawang Sherpa, 44, went missing Wednesday morning, prompting the deployment of a search party to the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) high mountain.
“The team discovered the Kenyan climber dead between the summit and the Hillary Step, but his guide remains missing,” Khim Lal Gautam, chief of the tourist department field office at the base camp, said AFP.
Search groups are also looking for a 40-year-old British climber and a 21-year-old Nepali guide who have been missing since Tuesday morning after an icefall crumbled as they descended Everest’s peak.
On Monday, a Romanian climber died in his tent while attempting to climb Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest mountain.
Everest and Lhotse follow the same route until they diverge at roughly 7,200 metres.
Earlier this month, two Mongolian climbers went missing after reaching Everest’s summit and were eventually discovered dead.
Two additional climbers, one French and one Nepalese, have died this season on Makalu, the world’s fifth-highest peak.
Nepal has awarded over 900 licenses for its mountains this year, including 419 for Everest, collecting more than $5 million in royalties.
More than 500 climbers and guides have already reached the summit of Everest, following a rope-fixing team’s arrival last month.
This year, China reopened the Tibetan route to foreigners for the first time since it was closed in 2020 due of the pandemic.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s ten highest peaks and attracts hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are pleasant and winds are usually quiet.
Last year, more than 600 climbers reached the peak of Everest, but it was also the mountain’s bloodiest season, with 18 fatalities.