Two climbers, from India and Philippines, die on Everest

KATHMANDU: An Indian climber and another from the Philippines became the first mountaineers to die on Mount Everest in the current March-May climbing season of the world’s highest peak, hiking officials said on Friday.

Subrata Ghosh, 45, from India, died on Thursday below the Hillary Step while returning after reaching the 8,849 metre peak. “He refused to descend from below the Hillary Step,” said Bodhraj Bhandari of Nepal’s Snowy Horizon Treks and Expedition organising company. The Hillary Step is located in the ‘death zone’, an area between 8,000-metre high South Col and the summit where the level of natural oxygen is inadequate for survival.