KATHMANDU: Two more climbers have died on Everest, expedition organisers said on Thursday, bringing the number of deaths on the world’s highest peak this spring climbing season to seven.

The latest fatalities were a 58-year-old Indian woman who said before her expedition that she had a pacemaker, and a Nepali member of a team clearing trash from the mountain.

Suzanne Leopoldina Jesus died at a hospital in the Nepal town of Lukla after the Indian mountaineer was airlifted from base camp due to illness.

“We brought the Indian climber to Lukla from the base camp in a helicopter on Wednesday as she was sick and could not climb,” Da Dendi Sherpa, managing director at Glacier Himalaya Treks and Expedition, said.

Jesus had raised funds for her climb with the slogan, “Everest expedition and back on a pacemaker, at the age of 58”.

The primary school teacher aimed to be Asia’s first person on a pacemaker and the oldest Indian to climb Everest, the Himalayan Times reported.

“We tried to send her to Kathmandu. But due to the bad weather conditions, the helicopter could not fly to Kathmandu. She was admitted to a local hospital in Lukla where she died this morning,” Sherpa said.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2023