4 Climbers Die Near Top of Mt. Everest In Tragic Weekend

Wikimedia Commons photo. 

Mt. Everest's summit season is off to a tragic start, as the body of an Indian man was spotted earlier this morning, marking the fourth fatality of the weekend on the world's highest peak. Sherpa rescuers have spotted the body of the missing climber, Ravi Kumar. The body was impossible to retrieve as he'd fallen 650 ft. below his intended route. 

Climbers from the United States, Australia, and Slovakia also died en route trying to summit Everest this weekend. Bad weather conditions had delayed climbing the summit, making for a rush in the last few days for climbers to reach the summit. 

According to the AP, "The Nepalese Tourism Department issued a record 371 permits this year to people to scale the mountain. The increased number of climbers this year is likely because many people were unable to climb in 2014 and 2015, when deadly avalanches disrupted the climbing seasons."

Kumar and his guide reached as high as the 8,850 meter high (29,035 ft. high) point as of around 1:30 pm Saturday, which is considered being a bit behind schedule. Roland Yearwood of Georgina, Alabama, Vladimir Strba of Slovakia, and Australian climber Frencesco Enrico Marchetti are the other climbers who died on the world's highest peak.