Kathmandu — Two Indian mountaineers died while descending Mount Everest during a spring season marked by unprecedented crowds and long summit queues. The expedition company Pioneer Adventures identified the climbers as Arun Kumar Tiwari and Sandeep Are.
According to the organisers, Tiwari fell ill near the Hillary Step, just below the summit, on May 21 and died despite assistance from four Sherpa climbers. Officials suspect he suffered high-altitude pulmonary oedema (HAPE).
Are, 46, had reached the summit on May 20 but became unwell during the descent. He reportedly developed snow blindness below the summit ridge and was evacuated from the South Summit by five Sherpa guides to Camp II, where he died shortly after arrival.
This spring season saw a record influx of climbers on Nepal’s high peaks. Authorities reported 274 summit ascents on Everest in a single day and media accounts described queues of climbers stretching for kilometres near the summit. Nepal’s Department of Tourism issued a season-high 495 permits for Everest alone—the largest number since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s 1953 ascent—and began selling permits for the spring window on March 1.
By May 21, Nepal had issued permits to 1,157 climbers for 30 different peaks, generating more than NRs 1.24 billion in royalty revenue, with Everest accounting for NRs 1.07 billion. National contingents this season included 109 permits for climbers from China, 77 from the United States, and 61 from India, making India the third-largest group on Everest by permit numbers.
For context, Guinness World Records notes the single-day summit record of 354 climbers set on May 23, 2019. Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 metres, making it a major destination for high-altitude expeditions.
Rescue and safety challenges on crowded summit days raise concerns among guides, expedition operators and authorities about managing traffic, acclimatisation and medical emergencies at extreme altitude. The investigations into these recent deaths are ongoing and were reported by ANI.
