A Russian climber has died on the way to Camp II of Mount Everest, organizers said.
Pavel Kostrikin,55, collapsed while he was trekking between Camp I and Camp II during regular acclimatization on Saturday evening, according to Mingma Gelu Sherpa, a local representative of Seven Summit Club Expedition.
“We are not sure about the cause of death. We are working to bring the body,” Sherpa told Everest Chronicle.
All climbers have to go through a rigorous acclimatization regimen before the summit push to get used to thin air.
Government officials said the cause of death might be altitude sickness, a common cause of death in the Himalayas.
Surya Mani Gautam, a liaison officer at Lukla, said a helicopter is arranged at Lukla to bring the dead body down to the airport. “But this will depend on weather conditions,” he said.
This is the second casualty of the spring season on Mount Everest, and the fourth in Nepal’s eight-thousander peaks. Earlier, Greek climber Antonios Sykaris died on Mount Dhaulagiri, while climbing guide Nima Tenji Sherpa breathed his last in Everest’s Khumbu icefall. On Thursday, an Indian climber, Narayanan Iyer, 52, died near the summit of Mount Kanchenjunga.
The report of his death comes hours after a rope-fixing team under Kami Rita Sherpa scaled the world’s highest peak from the Nepal side. Over a dozen expedition teams have left the base camp for the summit by Saturday, according to liaison officers stationed at the base camp.
A total of 316 climbers have obtained climbing permits for Everest, according to the Department of Tourism.
