American climber dies on Mount Everest

Kathmandu May 21 (IANS) An American climber was killed while trying to summit Mount Everest on Sunday morning according to the base camp officials.

The climber died while a group of six climbers along with their support staff reached the balcony area to make their final push to the top of the world a base camp manager told the Himalayan Times.

The cause of the climber s death is yet to be revealed the report said.

Murari Sharma Managing Director at Everest Parivar Treks in Kathmandu said that he also got a message from the group s base camp manager about the death of a climber near balcony on Mt Everest early on Sunday morning.

Climbers often consider the balcony area as a death zone Sharma said.

According to sources the climber was part of a 15-member expedition handled by Dan Mazur s Summit Climb and locally managed by Everest Parivar Treks the Himalayan Times reported.

This is the third death of climbers on Mount Everest this season.

Octogenarian mountaineer Min Bahadur Sherchan died at the base camp oon May 6 while famed Swiss climber Ueli Steck was killed in an accident in the Mount Everest region on April 30.

--IANS
ksk/vt