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Everest claims 5 more climbers
28/05/2006 17:05 - (SA)
Beijing - Five foreign climbers have lost their lives on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest this last week, reported the Beijing Morning Post on Sunday.
One of the dead was David Sharp, a British mountaineer who reached the summit but was left to die on May 15, as dozens of people passed him by.
Another was Tomas Olsson, a Swede who died as he was skiing down the mountain on May 16.
Secretary-general of the Tibet Mountaineering Association, Zhang Mingxing, said: "Among those five victims, three consumed all their physical strength, one lacked provisions, and one died while skiing - which is very dangerous."
Russian mountaineer Igor Plyushkin died descending the mountain on May 22.
Brazilian Vitor Negrete and a Frenchman also died, reported the Post. MountEverest.net gave the Frenchman's name as Jacques-Hugues Letrange.
The site also reported the death of a sherpa guide, whose name wasn't available, who died on the Tibetan side of Everest this year.
The website strongly criticised Zhang for "forgetting" to report the deaths of Sharp and Olsson promptly.
On May 23, when Associated Press asked Zhang about the deaths of foreign climbers on Everest, Zhang offered no information about Sharp and Olsson.
A call to the Tibet Mountaineering Association on Sunday went unanswered.
On the Nepalese side of Everest, Czech climber Pavel Kalny and three sherpas have died climbing the world's highest peak this year.
More than 1 500 climbers have reached the summit of Mount Everest in the last 53 years. About 190 have died trying.
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