Briton, Irish die on Everest

Kathmandu, May 25

The deaths of an Irish and a British climber on Mount Everest took the toll from a deadly week on the world’s highest peak to 10, expedition organisers said on Saturday.

British climber Robin Fisher, 44, reached the summit on Saturday but collapsed when he had got just 150 metres back down the slope.

On the northern Tibet side of the mountain, a 56-year-old Irish man died on Friday morning. The man decided to return without reaching the summit but died in his tent at the North Col pass at 7,000 metres (22,965 feet).

Four climbers from India and one each from the US, Austria and Nepal have already died on Everest in the past week. Another Irish mountaineer is missing presumed dead after he slipped and fell close to the summit.

Nepal issued a record 381 permits for mainly foreign climbers, costing $11,000 each, for the spring climbing season. Each climber with a permit is assisted by at least one sherpa, adding to the summit logjam.

Eight other climbers have died on other 8,000-metre-plus Himalayan peaks this season, while two are missing. — AFP