Kathmandu: A 45-year-old Indian mountaineer from West Bengal died of exhaustion and altitude sickness while descending from the summit of Mt Everest on Sunday. Efforts are on to bring his body down.
According to sources, Subrata Ghosh, a school teacher by profession, was passionate about mountains since he was a child. A resident of Ranaghat in the Nadia district of West Bengal, he became a part of the Mountaineering Association of Krishnanagar-Snowy Everest Expedition 2025 and started off from Kolkata on March 31.
“Ghosh reached the summit of the world’s highest peak around 2 pm on Saturday. However, he began to show signs of exhaustion and altitude sickness during the descent and refused to continue moving down,” said Bodhraj Bhandari, managing director at Snowy Horizon Treks, the company that organized the expedition.
Ghosh’s sherpa Champal Tawang apparently tried his best to encourage him to descend but to no avail. This happened on the Hillary Step, located within the “death zone” – an area above 8,000 metres where oxygen levels are critically low and the body actually starts to die. This part of the peak has historically proven dangerous for climbers attempting the final stretch to the summit and back.
Tawang returned to Camp IV and informed others of Ghosh’s death. His family in Ranaghat were informed. Some said that another climber from Ranaghat had accompanied Ghosh to the 8,848.86-metre high summit. She too suffered from exhaustion and is now on Oxygen support.
Ghosh’s is the second death on Mt Everest this climbing season, officials confirmed. Earlier this week, another 45-year-old climber Philipp II Santiago from the Philippines, died at the South Col, a high-altitude camp just below the summit. Santiago was reportedly exhausted upon reaching Camp IV on May 14 and died while resting in his tent.
Both Ghosh and Santiago were both part of international expeditions arranged by Snowy Horizon Treks.
This season, Nepal’s Department of Tourism has issued 459 permits to climb Everest, with over 100 climbers and guides having already reached the summit. More than 50 climbers have successfully scaled the peak this week alone, Hindustan Times has reported.
