Mount Everest sees first deaths of March-May climbing season

By Jacinth Banite

Mount Everest has seen the first deaths of the March-May climbing season – a mountaineer from India and another from the Philippines.

Philippine’s Philipp Santiago II and India’s Subrata Ghosh passed away on May 14 and 15 respectively near the so-called ‘death zone’ of the world’s highest mountain.

Both men were 45 years old.

The ‘death zone’ is an area between the South Col at 8,000m and the peak of Mt. Everest at 8,849m where natural oxygen is at critical levels, making survival extremely difficult.

One summited, one nearly did

Speaking with Reuters, Nepali tourism department official Himal Gautam said Santiago died in the South Col part of the mountain while he was on his way up.

According to Gautam, the Filipino climber “reached the fourth high camp and died while resting in his tent”.

Meanwhile, Ghosh passed away while climbing down from the peak, Bodhraj Bhandari from the organising company Snowy Horizon Treks and Expedition told Reuters.

According to Bhandari, the Indian climber refused to take the route below the Hillary Step, an area located within the ‘death zone’, on his way down.

“Efforts are underway to bring his body down to the base camp,” he was quoted as saying before further noting that the cause of death “will be known only after post-mortem”.

Santiago and Ghosh were both members of an international expedition organised by Bhandari, Reuters has learned.

Nepal reportedly issued a total of 459 climbing permits for Mt. Everest this season.

In the past week, about 100 climbers and their guides have already reached the summit.

In more than 100 years since Everest expeditions were known to have started, at least 345 people have died during a quest on the Himalayan mountain. 

Most of the bodies were left frozen at the top due to a combination of factors, including extreme altitude, treacherous terrain, and the difficulties of retrieval.

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