Two Mongolian climbers have been reported missing near the summit of Mount Everest, officials confirmed.
Usukhjargal Tsedendamba, 53, and Purevsuren Lkhagvajav, 31, members of nine member Magolian expedition team, were last in contact via radio with their agency, 8K Expedition, around 7:30 pm as they were heading toward the top for their summit push.
“It’s been nearly two days since they went missing. We have been talking with various expedition groups currently above the south col to locate them,” said Khimlal Gautam, Chief of the Expedition Monitoring and Facilitation Field Office at the base camp.
Two Sherpas from the 8K Expedition have been deployed to search for the missing climbers and are currently at the South Col coordinating rescue efforts.
Lakpa Sherpa, founder of 8K Expedition, stated that the duo had only paid for the base camp service and bottled oxygen but were climbing on their own without Sherpa assistance.
“They were confident about their skill and strength. They told us that they were professional climbers and need no Sherpa support,” said Lakpa, adding, “We even offered them our guides for free, but they turned down the request.”
In a statement, the Department of Tourism said that a group from TAG Nepal expedition had reported to have seen them at 8:54 a.m. on Monday above Camp IV, but no further information has been provided
This is the first major accident to come from the world’s highest peak this spring season. Many expedition groups have been in summit push since the ropes were laid to the summit on Friday. A total of 414 climbers have taken permits excluding Sherpa, who do not require permits, according to the Department of Tourism.
According to Lakpa, who is in the base camp coordinating the expeditions, there is no summit Tuesday as many climbers were forced to turn back from Balcony areas due to strong wind. Wind speed was reported to be 70-80 km/hour.
This story has been updated to include additional information and the status of supplementary oxygen.
