'Carnage and chaos': Harrowing photo shows Everest climbers queued next to dead body
A man has documented the moment dozens of climbers hiked past a dead body on Mount Everest as a reminder of the dangers of the popular adventure.
Canadian film-maker Elia Saikaly posted a shocking image to Facebook showing a climber’s body tethered beside the Hillary Step on May 23 in sub-zero temperatures.
“The morning light had revealed the gateway to the summit of Everest and in parallel to a human being who had lost his life,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Here we all were, chasing a dream and beneath our very feet there was this lifeless soul. Is this what Everest has become.”
Mr Saikaly said he had documented his team as it climbed Hilary Step, and he thought about every person who struggled to stay alive while also “questioning their own humanity, ethics and integrity”.
“This poor human being perched 7000ft above the Western CWM for everyone to observe was a reminder of each of our own mortality,” he said.
“Was this the ‘Dream of Everest’ we all imagined?”
“My heart bled for the family and loved ones and at the same time I was conscious of the necessity to continue to move on.
“At nearly 9000m above sea level, there is no choice but to carry on.”
New rules for Everest needed, climber says
The filmmaker suggested it was time to enforce new rules and said he shared the photo to warn future climbers of the serious dangers.
“I deeply apologise for the sensitivity of this post, but I feel we have a responsibility to inform aspiring future climbers of the seriousness of this undertaking while creating a dialogue around how to make safer, more responsible and more ethical choices with how we approach climbing to the top of the world,” he said.
As he posted a celebratory image of him reaching the summit for the third time on May 23, Mr Saikaly said he couldn’t believe what he saw during his feat.
“Death. Carnage. Chaos. Lineups. Dead bodies on route and in tents at camp 4. People who I tried to turn back who ended up dying,” he said.
Everest ‘a death race’
An American climber died on the descent from the summit of Mount Everest on Monday, taking the number of dead or missing mountaineers on the world’s highest mountain to nine on the Nepali side during the current climbing season.
Christopher John Kulish, 61, scaled the peak from the normal Southeast Ridge route in the morning but died suddenly at South Col after descending from the summit, Mira Acharya, a Nepal tourism department official said.
Most of the deaths on Everest this year have been attributed to exhaustion and tiredness, exacerbated because a crowded route to and from the summit has led to delays.
Rizza Alee, an 18-year-old climber from India's Kashmir, said that the "massive traffic jams" up the mountain had made scaling the world's most sought after climb "a death race”.
Alee said he was distraught after he had to abort his climb to the summit from camp four, less than 1000 metres from the top, because of a faulty oxygen regulator and that walking away from a life-long dream was the toughest decision of his life.
About 5000 people have scaled the Everest summit so far and about 300 have died on its slopes.
The warning comes after an Australian man was rescued after being found unconscious on the northern slopes on Mount Everest.
The man, who has yet to be named, was experiencing health problems at an altitude of 7500 metres when he was discovered on Wednesday by a four-person mountaineering crew returning from repair work, The China Daily reported.
with Reuters
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