Five More Bodies Have Been Retrieved from Mount Everest Amid Melting Snow

Recently, five more bodies have been retrieved from Mount Everest as the snow melts.

Mountaineer Caroline Gleich documents her 2019 ascent of Mount Everest in the film, A Climb for Equality A Climb For Equality Credit Rylo / Rylo, Great Falls Tribune via Imagn

Throughout the years, climbing to the top of Mount Everest has been the top goal of every avid hiker.

While an estimated 6,664 different people have made it to the to the summit of Mount Everest as of December 2023, there have been many who have perished along their journey.

Currently, there are an estimated 300 people who have died attempting to climb Mount Everest.

As shared by the Independent, five more bodies were recently recovered from Mount Everest by Nepal's army. One was a skeleton, while another was a corpse that took 11 hours to free due to being trapped in ice.

Snow has continued to melt due to global warming. Aditya Karki, an army officer involved in the search and cleanup operation, opened up about what is happening to help teams recover more bodies.

“Because of the effects of global warming, [the bodies and trash] are becoming more visible as the snow cover thins."

Karki also opened up about how the presence of so many corpses can impact hikers.

“There is a psychological effect. People believe that they are entering a divine space when they climb mountains, but if they see dead bodies on the way up, it can have a negative effect.”

Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa, who led the army's expedition to clean up the mountain in the past, described how difficult the process of removing bodies from Mount Everest trully can be.

“Getting the body out is one part, bringing it down is another challenge. We have to bring them back as much as possible. If we keep leaving them behind, our mountains will turn into a graveyard.”

All of that being said, Mount Everest will continue to be a very popular attraction for avid hikers. However, there are major risks when hiking the mountain. There are many who have not come back from their journey and more of them are being found often.