Kenyan mountaineer Cheruiyot Kirui confirmed dead on Mt Everest

Kenyan mountaineer Cheruiyot Kirui has been confirmed dead on Mt Everest, according to a report by The Everest Today. Kirui, who was attempting to summit Everest without using supplemental oxygen, had been out of contact since this morning from a point known as Bishop Rock, just a few meters below the summit.

Mingma Sherpa, Chairman at Seven Summit Treks, confirmed that Kirui, a banker with KCB, and his Sherpa guide, Nawang, were last contacted at Bishop Rock. Nawang reported that Kirui exhibited abnormal behavior before they both lost contact.

"Then, the duo went out of contact," Sherpa said. Despite rescue efforts, Kirui's death was announced.

Earlier, Kirui had spoken about his ambitious goal. "Climbing Everest has been done before. I think the only difference is what I'm trying to do, climbing without supplemental oxygen. That has not been done by any African. It's the tough way to climb Mt Everest," he told reporters.

“It is riskier than climbing with supplemental oxygen. So you need to be extremely fit. The success rate of climbing without supplemental oxygen is less than 40 percent.”

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Everest’s summit, at 8,849 meters, has approximately one-third the air pressure that exists at sea level. This significantly reduces a climber's ability to breathe in enough oxygen, making the ascent incredibly dangerous.

"Climbers who ascend higher than 8,000 meters on Mt. Everest enter the ‘death zone.’ In this area, oxygen is so limited that the body's cells start to die, and judgment becomes impaired," Kirui explained.

"The challenge for me would be without supplemental oxygen; otherwise, I wouldn't feel like I've achieved much. So I want to see how my body can cope at such altitude," he added.

Kirui’s passion for mountaineering developed during a work boot camp at Outward Bound Training Centre in Kajiado County. He had climbed Mt Kenya more than 15 times and scaled Kilimanjaro.

In addition to Kirui's death, The Himalayan reported the death of Romanian climber Gabriel Tabara at Camp III on Mt Everest. Tabara, 48, who was attempting to climb Lhotse without supplementary oxygen, was found dead in his tent. The ongoing climbing season has been marked by several tragedies, including the disappearance of Daniel Paul Peterson from the UK and Pas Tenji Sherpa near the Hillary Step, and the deaths of two Mongolian climbers on May 13.