Climate change, global warming are melting glaciers and snow caps on the Mount Everest. Expedition operators are finding more and more bodies of climbers on and around the world’s highest peak.
Since 1922, more than 200 mountaineers died on the peak, and since then their bodies have remained buried under glaciers or snow for decades. After intense melting, and thinning of the ice bodies are becoming more exposed.
Ang Tshering Sherpa, former President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association said, “Due to climate change and global warming, snow and glaciers are melting fast, and bodies are being exposed and discovered by climbers. Since 2008, my company has brought down seven bodies, some dating back to a British expedition in the 1970s.”
Recovering dead bodies of mountaineers can be dangerous, and expensive. Now since, 40-50 year bodies are being exposed, it’s important for authorities to survey, find and dispose any human remains properly to avoid any spread of air or water borne diseases.
The Nepal National Mountain Guides Associations’ Treasurer, Tenzing Sherpa, said climate change was affecting Nepal with glaciers, in parts, melting by a meter every year.
“We bring down most bodies. But for those that could not be brought down we pay our respects by saying prayers and covering them with rocks or snow..we have not seen the government taking any responsibility,” he said.