Experts Blame Climate Change for Mount Everest Deaths
- U-Report
VIVA – Recently experts have said that climate change is to blame for up to 17 deaths on Mount Everest. Nepal's tourism chief says it becomes the reasons for deadliest years in history.
A total of 12 people have now been confirmed dead during Everest expeditions this season and another five are missing, presumed dead, as no contact was made for at least five days in all cases, according to the Himalayan Database, which tracks mountain fatalities.
The figure was confirmed by Yuba Raj Khatiwada, the director of Nepal's tourism department. "Overall this year we lost 17 people on the mountain this season," he said.
Gunung Everest
- U-Report
"The main cause is the changing in weather. This season the weather conditions are not favorable, very variable. Climate change is having a big impact in the mountains."
It would make this year one of the worst on record for deaths on Everest, matched only by the events of 2014 when 17 people died. Most of them were local Sherpas who died in avalanches.
On average, between five and 10 people die on Everest each year, but recent years have seen a spike.
Among those who lost their lives climbing Everest this year was Jason Kennison, a 40-year-old mechanic from Australia.Â
Kennison had overcome a spinal injury while climbing to the summit, but was unable to climb back down. Then there was a Canadian doctor, Pieter Swart, and three Nepalese Sherpas who died in an avalanche in April.
Those still missing include Hungarian solo climber Suhajda Szilárd, who climbed the mountain without sherpa guides or supplemental oxygen, and an Indian-Singaporean climber who is feared to have fallen off the mountain.
This year has been deadlier than 2019, when images of overcrowding and "carnage" on Everest went viral.
Hundreds of climbers waited up to 12 hours to scale the mountain, and reported that people resorted to climbing on bodies, and immobilizing climbers. A total of 11 people died that year.
