What is Mount Everest’s ‘dead zone’? The body was taken from the mountain

Five bodies, including one skeleton, have finally been recovered from Mount Everest’s so-called ‘death zone’ after the Nepalese army sent twelve military personnel and 18 sherpas to clear the high Himalayas.

The authorities started the operation in 2019 and, this year, they set the goal of recovering five bodies from the ‘death zone’, located at an altitude of 8,000 meters (26,247 feet).

The cleanup team recovered the human remains while still alive in water, chocolate, and sattu, a mixture of wheat, barley, and chickpea flour.

After a 54-day operation that ended on June 5, one skeleton and eleven tons of trash were recovered at a lower level.

The team didn’t want to disturb the other climbers, so after finding the body, they mostly worked after nightfall.

There is only one ladder and ropeway in the Everest region, which also includes Lhotse and Nuptse, for climbers to ascend and descend from base camp.

“It is very difficult to bring dead bodies from the death zone,” Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa, who was part of the operation, told the BBC, adding: “I vomited sour water several times. Others kept coughing and others had headaches because we spend many hours at very high altitudes.

Even a strong sherpa is limited to carrying 25 kg (55 pounds) at 8,000 meters, which is less than thirty percent of the maximum weight at lower elevations.

The bodies of the climbers were found exactly where they died. Transportation was made more difficult as limbs could not be moved due to freezing conditions. According to Nepalese law, the body must be returned to the authorities in the best possible condition; doing harm can be fined.

The skeleton and four bodies were kept at a hospital in Kathmandu. Identification documents belonging to American mountaineer Roland Yearwood, who died in 2017, and Czech mountaineer Milan Sedlacek have been found by the army. The relevant embassy will be in contact with the government of Nepal. The other two bodies are yet to be identified.

Regardless of whether the dead are foreigners or Nepalese, authorities say they will bury the bodies if no one comes forward to claim them three months after they are identified.

This is the deadliest part of the mountain.

The term death zone in climbing refers to the elevation at a certain point where there is not enough oxygen pressure to support human life for an extended period of time.

The danger of the death zone has caused many victims in the high mountains, directly from the loss of vital functions or indirectly from bad decisions made by force (for example, failing to return in a damaged state or misjudging the climbing route), or from physical weakness that causing an accident (for example, falling).

It is recommended that people do not spend more than 16 to 20 hours in the death zone. For most people, 48 hours is the absolute limit. This is in the presence of more oxygen.

Climbers can only reach an elevation of 8,000 meters for about 15 days a year because the wind is slow during the transition of the wind cycle. Wind speed often reaches 100 km/h in the dead zone.

About 21 hours without oxygen (by Babu Chiri Sherpa on Everest) and 90 hours with oxygen (by Pemba Gyalje on K2) are records for the amount of time spent in the death zone. Both of these record holders are Sherpas, who have evolved a genetic resistance to living at high altitudes.

Since the beginning of mountain climbing records in the Everest region last century, more than 300 people have died in the region, and many of these bodies are still there.

According to Nepal’s tourism department, the death toll continues to rise: eight people have died so far, and 18 people will die in 2023.

The cost of repatriating the remains of families who perished in the mountains is beyond the reach of many. Most private companies say it’s too risky to rescue dead bodies from the death zone, even if they have the finances. This year, the military has allocated five million rupees (£46,000) for the recovery of each body. To descend the body from 8,000 meters, twelve people are needed, each person needs four oxygen cylinders. As each cylinder costs more than $400 (£309), the cost of oxygen alone comes to $20,000 (£15,460).