Indian mountaineer dies near top of Mount Kanchenjunga in Nepal

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A 52-year-old Indian mountaineer died in Nepal near the summit of Mount Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest peak, the organisers of the expedition said on Friday.</p>
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Narayanan Iyer, who is from Maharastra, breathed his last at an altitude of 8,200 metres on Thursday.</p>
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"He was slower than others and we had two guides assist him. He was very exhausted, couldn't continue and collapsed," Nivesh Karki of expedition company Pioneer Adventure told AFP.</p>
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Karki said that Iyer's family had been informed and work is on to recover his body.</p>
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Iyer is the third climber to die in Nepal this year. Last month, a Greek mountaineer died on the 8,167-metre Dhaulagiri after he fell ill while descending.</p>
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A few days later, a Nepali sherpa who was carrying equipment uphill as part of a mountaineering team was found dead on Mount Everest.</p>
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Nepalese authorities have issued 68 permits to foreign climbers for the 8,586-metre Kanchenjunga this season.</p>
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The country only reopened its peaks to mountaineers last year after closing all mountaineering activities due to the pandemic in 2020.</p>
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Nepal's government has already issued permits to 918 mountaineers for the season out of which 316 are for Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak.</p>