Kenyan climber found dead after disappearing on Everest

A Kenyan mountaineer who went missing near the summit of Mount Everest has been found dead.

Forty-year-old Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui and his Nepali guide Nawang Sherpa, 44, disappeared on Wednesday while attempting to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen.

The guide is yet to be found by the search team that had been deployed to locate the pair, a local tourism official told AFP news agency.

Climbing Everest, the world’s highest peak, is considered extremely difficult and risky, even for experienced climbers.

Nepalese newspaper the Himalayan Times quoted Mr Sherpa informing the base camp that Kirui showed “abnormal behaviour” and had “refused to return and even consume bottled oxygen”.

Contact with the duo was lost shortly after the message, base camp officials told the paper.

In his latest Instagram post, Mr Kirui had expressed confidence that he could conquer Everest without additional oxygen.

“A no-oxygen attempt comes with its special preparations and risks, physically my body is ready,” Mr Kirui wrote, before detailing the precautionary measures he was observing on the climb.

He was a banker with one of Kenya’s biggest lenders.

News of the death has hit the Kenyan mountain climbing community hard.

“Our brother now rests on the mountain. It’s been a long night,” fellow Kenyan mountaineer James Muhia, who had been sharing regular updates about Mr Kirui’s attempt, said on X (formerly Twitter).

In an earlier post, Mr Muhia had backed Mr Kuria to complete the climb, saying he was properly equipped, physically capable, resilient and well trained.

Mr Kirui’s death is the fourth recorded on Everest this week.

A Romanian climber and a British climber and his Nepalese guide were also found dead on Tuesday, the Himalayan Times reported.