Associated Press
KATHMANDU, Nepal A coronavirus outbreak on Mount Everest has infected at least 100 climbers and support staff, an expert mountaineering guide said, giving the first comprehensive estimate amid official Nepalese denials that the disease has spread to the world’s highest peak.
Lukas Furtenbach of Austria, who last week became the only prominent outfitter to halt his Everest expedition due to virus fears, said Saturday one of his foreign guides and six Nepali Sherpa guides have tested positive.
“I think with all the confirmed cases we know now confirmed from (rescue) pilots, from insurance, from doctors, from expedition leaders I have the positive tests so we can prove this,” Furtenbach told The Associated Press in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.
Mount Everest and its surrounding peaks are increasingly polluted and warmer, and nearby glaciers are melting at an alarming rate that is likely to make it more dangerous for future climbers, an American scientist who spent weeks in the Everest region said Tuesday. Prof. John All of Western Washington University said after returning from the mountains that he and his. China May 29, 2019
Colorado lawyer Chris Kulish, 62, became the second American to have died on Mount Everest in the last 10 days. Veteran climbers blame the deaths on overcrowding due to the Nepalese government selling too many permits. The government blames the bottleneck near Everest’s peak on bad weather.
Mount Everest – NECN necn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from necn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.