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Mount Everest is Earth’s highest mountain, peaking at a stunning 29,029 feet above sea level. The first recorded efforts to reach its summit were made by the British. During this time, the Nepalese government prohibited foreigners from entering the country, so the British attempted to enter through the Tibetan side. After several years of failed attempts, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal successfully reached the summit, marking the first time ever a human being had climbed more than 26,000 feet above the ground.
Despite its grandeur, Mount Everest is not an inviting place, and even the bravest shy away from it. The feeling is quite justifiable given the number of unidentified bodies that have turned up on the mountain over the years. No one knows exactly how many bodies remain on the mountain today, but experts are sure that there are more than 200. Dead Sherpa people and foreign climbers lie in its crevasses, some of their bodies distorted and sun-bleached beyond relief.
Mysterious Unidentified Bodies on Mount Everest
On May 22, 2017, reports surfaced about the discovery of four bodies inside a tent on Mount Everest. The latest deaths, who were identified as two foreign climbers and two Sherpa guides, take the death toll this season to ten.
On an ironic note, the bodies on Mount Everest were discovered by a rescue team sent to retrieve the body of a Slovakian climber who died on the mountain the week before. What makes this case so baffling is that no one can identify who these four climbers were, no agency records or family members ever came forward either.
Aside from the four recent victims, an Australian named Francesco Marchetti, Indian Ravi Jumar, and 85-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan also lost their lives scaling the mountain this year. Scherchan died attempting to reclaim his title as the oldest person to reach the summit.
Why do people meet their demise on Mount Everest?
In total, approximately 6.5 percent of the 4,000 climbers that scale Mount Everest have died in an attempt to reach the summit. According to experts, the ill-fated climbers who perished last May likely died from altitude sickness.
Experts have stated that the deaths that happened on Mount Everest can be classified into two: traumatic and non-traumatic. Traumatic deaths, which are more uncommon, are caused by falls, avalanches, and extreme weather. Non-traumatic deaths are typically from altitude-related illnesses, exhaustion, and injury.
A majority of the deaths happen during the descent, in an area aptly called the Death Zone, which lies 8,000 meters above sea level. The high elevation, extreme temperature, and lack of oxygen are the top risk factors that make this area a danger for even the most seasoned mountaineers.
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Overall, Mount Everest continues to be shrouded in mystery. Who knows how many people have died there and in what manner these unlucky folks met their end. The case of the recently found dead bodies on Mount Everest remains open to this day, adding just another riddle to the long list of unexplained mysteries surrounding the world’s highest mountain.
