A Kenyan climber has died on Mount Everest, the research and rescue team deployed by mountaineering company Seven Summit Treks confirmed on Thursday, according to Nepal's tourism department's statement. This accident marks the third confirmed death on the world's highest peak this climbing season.
Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui, 40, along with his 44-year-old Sherpa guide, Nawang, had been unaccounted for above the Hillary Step since Wednesday morning, the statement read.
Sherpa rescuers found Kirui’s body late Wednesday, approximately 19 meters (62 feet) below the 8,849-meter summit. His climbing guide Nawang remains missing, Khimlal Gautam, Chief of the Expedition Monitoring and Facilitation Field Office of the Department of Tourism at the base camp, stated.
"It is not clear whether they went missing before reaching the peak or after climbing," he told the Western media.
In the previous week, two Mongolian climbers died while descending from the top. Additionally, a British climber and a Sherpa have been reported missing since Tuesday after falling near the South Summit.
Sherpas are one of the ethnic groups that today predominantly inhabit the Eastern Himalayas, not only guiding mountaineers during the climb process but also carrying some of their equipment that may exceed their own weight. Due to the peculiarities of their blood supply system, Sherpas can withstand overloads that may be fatal for others.
Official records indicate that around 7,000 climbers have reached the summit of Everest, many of them multiple times, since Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first achieved this feat in 1953.