Kathmandu: On Thursday, two foreign climbers have died on Mount Everest due to snow blindness and exhaustion, said hiking company officials. The first fatalities on the world’s highest peak this season.
Thaneshwar Guragai, a manager of the Seven Summit Treks company that provided support to the climbers said, “Abdul Waraich, 41, of Switzerland and American Puwei Liu, 55, died of exhaustion while descending the slopes of the 8,848.86 metres (29,031.69-foot) mountain on Wednesday. Additional sherpas were sent with supplies and oxygen but unfortunately, they could not save them”.
According to Chhang Dawa Sherpa, another official of the company, Waraich, who was on his way down after reaching the summit, died near the south summit. Liu could not reach the summit of Everest and died on descent near a 7,900 metre (25,918 feet) camp at the South Col after suffering snow blindness and exhaustion. More details were not immediately available.
Everest has been scaled by more than 6,000 climbers since it was first conquered by Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953. At least 311 people have died on its slopes.
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