An expedition organizer says two Indian climbers died near the summit of Mount Kanchenjunga during an expedition on the world’s third highest mountain in Nepal on Thursday. They died while attempts were being made to rescue them.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Both the climbers fell sick and died while attempts were being made to rescue them
- One of the climbers had scaled the world’s third tallest peak while another was on the way up but fell sick and died
- They were believed to be suffering from high altitude sickness and had frostbites
The climbers were identified as Biplab Baidya, 48, and 46-year-old Kuntal Kanrar, who died overnight at an altitude of about 8,000 metres (26,246 feet). Attempts were being made to bring them to a lower camp from where they would have been picked by a rescue helicopter.
“Biplab made it successfully to the summit point while Kuntal fell sick on his way and could not make it to the top. The Indian duo died while climbing down from the peak,” Mira Acharaya,” liaison officer at Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism team deployed at the base camp, said.
According to fellow climbers, the incident occurred when the duo was being brought to Camp IV from an altitude of 8,400 metres through a herculean rescue operation carried out by Project Possible team leader Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja along with the fellow members.
“They succumbed to high altitude sickness,” said Pasang Sherpa, Director of Peak Promotion Ltd, that carried out the expedition.
Pasang Sherpa of the Peak Promotion hiking company said Baidya, who climbed the 8,586 metre (28,169 feet) Kanchenjunga main summit on Wednesday, died due to altitude sickness on the way down. Kanrar died while trying to climb the peak, he said. Both were from Kolkata.
They were part of a five-member team of climbers from West Bengal, Sherpa said.
“Two Indian climbers and a German mountaineer who also suffered from serious frostbite will be evacuated from the high altitude camp as early as possible,” he said.
Hundreds of foreign climbers and their guides attempt to scale high Himalayan peaks during the popular spring climbing season in Nepal that begins around March and ends this month.
Another climber Rodrigo Vivanco from Chile went missing on the descent after he reportedly made it to the summit late on Wednesday, Sherpa said, adding that a team has already left for Camp IV to conduct a search operation.
