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Record death toll on Everest
26/05/2006 10:08 - (SA)
Sydney - One of Australia's most experienced mountaineers and a German colleague have died near the summit of Mount Everest, bringing the total number of climbers killed on the world's highest peak this season to a record 15, the leader of their expedition said on Friday.
Australian Lincoln Hall reached the summit of Everest on Thursday but died soon after as he was descending the mountain, team leader Alexander Abramov said in a statement posted on the website www.mounteverest.net.
Another member of the same team, Thomas Weber from Germany, who was visually impaired, stopped 50 metres short of the summit after his sight failed and also died during the descent, Abramov said.
The group, which included a Dutch guide and five sherpas, set off for the summit at midnight and Hall, with three of the sherpas, reached the peak at 09:00.
Swelling of the brain
"Lincoln went in good speed and joyfully informed about his success on a portable radio set," Abramov said.
But as he descended the mountain, Hall began to lose co-ordination and collapsed.
Although he was still able to communicate with friends over the radio, Hall died about nine hours later as sherpas tried to bring him down the mountain, Abramov said.
He said the probable cause of death was high altitude cerebral oedema, a swelling of the brain, or pulmonary oedema.
'I am dying'
In the meantime, Weber collapsed after descending about 100 metres down the mountain.
"Tomas said, 'I am dying' and lost consciousness. At 12:40 the death was verified," Abramov said.
Good weather blamed for deaths
Abramov said the loss of the two climbers brought to 15 the number of people killed trying to climb Everest this season.
He attributed the high number of deaths to unseasonably good weather, which has allowed more climbers to make summit attempts.
"Strangely enough, the reason for it became extremely good, windless weather," he said.
"The weather allowed plenty of climbers to reach the summit. In more severe conditions, they probably would have stopped the climb at lower heights," he said.
China's Xinhua news agency reported earlier this week that three mountaineers from France, Russia and Brazil died climbing Mount Everest within the past week.
Hillary criticises climbers
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to conquer Everest on Wednesday criticised climbers for leaving a young Briton to die near the summit.
He said climbers including fellow New Zealander Mark Inglis, who became the first double amputee to scale the 8 848-metre peak on May 15, were wrong to leave David Sharp to die while they carried on to the summit.
- AFP
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