Three Mount Everest climbers were reported dead Sunday, with a fourth climber missing after getting separated from his guide.
Roland Yearwood, a 50-year-old Alabama doctor, was among those who died, Nepal tourism officials told The Washington Post. Yearwood had taken on the world’s highest mountain before, surviving a massive earthquake during his 2015 attempt to scale Everest, according to AL.com. His wife, Amrita Yearwood, described her husband at the time as “adventurous” and someone who “doesn’t get freaked out.”
Everest Parivar Expedition agency spokesperson Murari Sharma told the Chicago Tribune that specifics of Yearwood’s death were not immediately known, though he reportedly died near the mountain’s summit.
Two other climbers also died Sunday. Slovakian climber Vladimir Strba and Australian climber Francesco Enrico died from altitude sickness, according to The Himalayan Times.
Search teams continue to look for Ravi Kumar, an Indian climber missing since Saturday. Kumar made it to the summit, but both he and his Nepali guide fell sick, the Post reports. The guide left Kumar with a supply of oxygen and went down the mountain to find help. Though the guide made it to a camp, teams have not been able to locate Kumar.
This year, The Nepalese Tourism Department has issued a record number of permits for climbing Everest. As of early May, it had issued permits to 317 climbers, according to the Associated Press.
Guide Tendi Sherpa told the Post that 60 people made it to the top on Sunday, but there were also numerous helicopter evacuations for crises like frostbite and altitude sickness.
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