American climber dies on Everest

KATHMANDU: An American climber died on Sunday on his way to the summit of Mount Everest, expedition organisers said, the latest death to mar the ongoing climbing season.

The 50-year-old mountaineer died close to the Balcony, a small platform above the 8,000-metre mark considered the mountain’s "death zone".

"An American climber has died around the Balcony area. We are trying to get more details," Murari Krishna Sharma of Everest Parivar Expedition, a private mountaineering company, told AFP.

The death zone is notorious for its difficult terrain and thin air, where low levels of oxygen heighten the risk of altitude sickness. A search is also underway for an Indian climber who lost contact after reaching the summit of the world’s tallest mountain on Saturday.

His Nepali guide was found unconscious at Camp 4, just below 8,000 metres, with severe frostbite.

"He has been out of reach since yesterday. We have sent a search and rescue team," said Thupden Sherpa of Arun Treks and Expeditions, another private climbing outfit.

It is the third death so far this climbing season.  Legendary Swiss climber Ueli Steck died late April while on an acclimatization climb, and 85-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan perished attempting to reclaim his title as the world’s oldest person to summit Everest.