KATHMANDU: Two more climbers died on Mount Everest on Thursday, according to the expedition’s organisers, raising the total number of fatalities on the world’s highest mountain this spring climbing season to seven.
The recent fatalities were a 58-year-old Indian female mountaineer, a pacemaker before her expedition, and a Nepali team member who was involved in removing garbage from the mountain, according to AFP.
Suzanne Leopoldina Jesus breathed her last at a local hospital in the Nepal town of Lukla after she was airlifted from base camp due to her health condition, the organisers said.
Managing Director of Glacier Himalaya Treks and Expedition, Da Dendi Sherpa, said, “We shifted the Indian climber in a helicopter to Lukla from the base camp on Wednesday as she was unwell and was unable to climb.”
Sherpa said, “We tried to shift her to Kathmandu, but owing to the poor weather conditions, the copper could not fly; therefore, Jesus was admitted to a local hospital in Lukla, where she passed away this morning.”
Jesus had used the tagline “Everest expedition and back on a pacemaker, at the age of 58” to raise funds for her climb.
The Himalayan Times reported that Jesus was a primary school teacher who wanted to be the first person in Asia with a pacemaker and the oldest Indian to climb the highest mountain in the world.
The identity of the other victim could not be ascertained.
