A British man and his Nepali guide are believed to be dead after reaching the summit of Mount Everest on Tuesday. According to the BBC, Daniel Paterson, 39, from Wakefield, and guide Pastenji Sherpa, 23, did reach the top of the mountain but later “fell towards the Tibet side through a very vertical steep.”
The area that the two men fell from is known as the “death zone.” As per Fox News, the “death zone” is the area on the mountain above 26,000 feet, where low oxygen levels can cause impaired judgment, severe altitude sickness and death after an extended period.
The duo were part of a group of 15 who reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain at 29,032 feet.
Mount Everest adventure company 8K Expeditions, which organized the expedition, said they were “caught by a sudden snow cornice collapse that affected the climbing group.”
”Despite exhaustive search efforts, we regret to confirm that Daniel and Pastenji were unable to be recovered from the following incident”, the company wrote in an Instagram post. The company said retrieving their bodies was difficult because rescuers could not access that side of the mountain and helicopters could not be flown there.
“On May 21st, at 4:40 AM, Daniel Paterson successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest — a monumental achievement and a testament to his strength and determination. Tragically, during his descent, Daniel went missing, and there has been no contact or sighting of him since,” his partner, Becks Woodhead, wrote on a crowdfunding page this week.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who is missing in Nepal and are in touch with local authorities.”
At least five others attempting to reach the peak of Mount Everest have died trying over the past two weeks, according to the New York Post. A Kenyan and a Nepali climber also died close to Everest’s summit, tourism officials said.
Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui, 40, and his Nepali guide Nawang Sherpa, 44, went out of contact Wednesday morning and a search team was deployed on the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) high mountain.
“The team have found the Kenyan climber dead between the summit and the Hillary Step, but his guide is still missing,” Khim Lal Gautam, chief of the tourism department’s field office at the base camp, told AFP.
Nepal has issued more than 900 permits for its mountains this year, including 419 for Everest, earning more than $5 million in royalties.
More than 500 climbers and their guides have already reached the summit of Everest after a rope-fixing team reached the peak last month. Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds typically calm. More than 600 climbers made it to the summit of Everest last year but it was also the deadliest season on the mountain, with 18 fatalities.
