Climbers clamber over body of Mount Everest victim as death toll continues to rise

The true horror of conditions on Mount Everest has been shown for the first time by a Canadian filmmaker who described it as: ‘Death. Carnage. Chaos’.

Elia Saikaly summited the world’s highest peak on Thursday and said he tried to turn back a number of climbers who ended up dying from the blistering conditions.

His image, posted to Instagram, shows a long line of people waiting to scale Hilary’s Step on their way to the summit while a ‘lifeless soul’ hangs from their safety rope.

It is not known who the body is.

The filmmaker, from Ottowa, said they passed dead bodies on the route and in their tents on their journey to the highest point on the Earth.

Mr Saikaly apologised for the sensitivity for the post but said: ‘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.’

Eleven people have now been confirmed dead in just 10 days after huge numbers of mountaineers were forced to wait in traffic jams for over 12 hours to reach the top of the mountain.

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The latest confirmed fatality is American lawyer Christopher John Kulish, 62, who died during his descent from the summit today.

The cause of his death has not yet been confirmed, but most of the fatalities have so far been put down to exhaustion which has been exacerbated by the traffic jams.

Another four bodies found on the mountain last week have yet to be identified.

Many climbers have attempted to summit together after a spate of bad weather only left a few days in which it was clear enough to even attempt to reach the top.

This May, there has only been a window of five clear days for mountaineers to attempt to reach the summit, whereas there would usually be around seven to 12.

The decreased opportunities to trek to the top has led to huge numbers of people trying to do it at once.

On Sunday, former Parachute Regiment soldier Martin Hewitt said he had been forced to cut the queue, as he was running low on oxygen supplies and shared footage of the jams on his way.

On Saturday, British climber Robin Fisher, 44, died as he made the descent from the so-called death zone named for its low oxygen levels. 

In one of his last social media posts, Robin told of how he had changed his plans in order to avoid the ‘fatal’ crowds.

He said: ‘With a single route to the summit, delays caused by overcrowding could prove fatal so I am hopeful my decision to go for the 25th will mean fewer people.

‘Unless of course everyone else plays the same waiting game.’

Irishman Kevin Hynes, 56, died in the early hours of Friday after turning back before reaching the summit.

He passed away while sheltering in his tent at a height of 7,000m. The father-of-two had said the day before his death the expedition was ‘proving the most fun he had ever had’.

Another Irishman, Seamus Lawless, is missing and presumed dead after falling as he descended the peak on May 16

On Wednesday, Donald Lynn Cash and Anjali Kulkarni, both 55, collapsed after suffering from altitude sickness after reaching the summit.

Donald, from Utah, was taking pictures on top of the peak when he collapsed following a 12-hour push from Camp IV.

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Sherpas were initially able to perform CPR and get him a short way back down the mountain, but he died a few hours later near the Hillary Step – a near-vertical rock face on the southeast ridge.

Anjali Kulkarni, from India, was returning from the summit point when she also fell ill. According to The Himalayan Times, she and her husband were part of a six-member expedition on the mountain and made it down to Camp IV.

Kulkarni’s expedition organiser, Arun Treks, said the delay at the top of Everest caused her death. On Thursday, another three climbers were confirmed dead after getting stuck in the traffic jam for more than 12 hours.

Kalpana Das, 52, and Nihal Bagwan, 27, both died as they climbed back down the mountain, while a 65-year-old Austrian climber died on the northern Tibet side of Everest.

There have now been calls for the number of permits to be reduced following the rising numbers of deaths.