KATHMANDU: A traffic jam of climbers in the Everest “death zone” was blamed for two of four new deaths reported Friday, heightening concerns that the drive for profits is trumping safety on the world’s highest peak.
Nepal has issued a record 381 permits costing $11,000 each for the current spring climbing season, bringing in much-needed money for the impoverished Himalayan country.
But a small window of suitable weather before the short season ends has in recent days triggered bottlenecks of hundreds of climbers wanting to achieve for many — although perhaps not for purists — the ultimate in mountaineering.
The four latest deaths reported on Friday, taking the toll from a deadly week on the overcrowded peak to eight, include two Indians and a Nepali on the Nepal side and an Austrian on the way down on the northern Tibetan side, officials and expedition organizers said.
Ang Tsering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said that the weather window to summit this season was narrow, meaning that many teams had to wait to go up.
“Spending a long time above the death zone increases the risk of frostbite, altitude sickness and even death,” he said.
Kalpana Das, 52, reached the summit but died on Thursday afternoon while descending, as a huge number of climbers queued near the top. The other Indian, Nihal Bagwan, 27, also died on his way back from the summit.
“He was stuck in the traffic for more than 12 hours and was exhausted. Sherpa guides carried him down to Camp 4 but he breathed his last there,” said Keshav Paudel of Peak Promotion.
A 33-year-old Nepali guide died at the base camp on Friday after he was rescued from Camp 3 for falling sick.
Wednesday claimed the lives of an American and another Indian.
Donald Lynn Cash, 55, collapsed at the summit as he was taking photographs, while Anjali Kulkarni, also 55, died while descending after reaching the top.
Kulkarni’s expedition organizer, Arun Treks, said heavy traffic at the summit had delayed her descent and caused the tragedy.
“She had to wait for a long time to reach the summit and descend,” said Thupden Sherpa. “She couldn’t move down on her own and died as Sherpa guides brought her down.”
Pasang Tenje Sherpa, of Pioneer Adventure, told AFP that Cash collapsed on the summit and died close to Hillary Step as guides were bringing him back.
Last week, an Indian climber died and an Irish mountaineer went missing after he slipped and fell close to the summit and is presumed dead.
The Irish professor was in the same team as Saray Khumalo, 47, who this week became the first black African woman to climb Everest and who is hoping to conquer the highest summits on each of the seven continents.
Mountaineering in Nepal has become a lucrative business since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent of Everest in 1953.
Most Everest hopefuls are escorted by a Nepali guide, meaning more than 750 climbers were expected to tread the same path to the top in the current season.
At least 140 others have been granted permits to scale Everest from the northern flank in Tibet, according to expedition operators. This could take the total past last year’s record of 807 people reaching the summit.
“About 550 climbers have summited the world tallest mountain by Thursday according to the data provided by expedition organizers to us,” said Mira Acharya, spokeswoman for Nepal’s Tourism Department
Many Himalayan mountains — including Everest — are at peak climbing season, with the window of good weather between late April and the end of May.
Eight other climbers have died on other 8,000-meter Himalayan peaks this season, while two are missing.
In 2015, 18 people were killed at the Everest base camp because of an avalanche triggered by a quake.
In happier news, two Sherpa widows, Furdiki Sherpa and Nima Doma Sherpa reached the summit of Everest on Thursday, their team coordinator confirmed.
The two want to force a rethink about the role of widows in their conservative community, after their husbands died on the world’s highest mountain.
“We want to climb Everest with a message for widows and single women. We are not less than anyone, we are capable of achieving anything,” Nima Doma said in an interview with AFP ahead of the expedition.
French climber Elisabeth Revol, who was dramatically rescued last year from Pakistan’s Mount Nanga Parbat, summited Lhotse Friday morning, a day after reaching the top of Everest.
Four more die on Everest as traffic jams blamed for increasing risk
Four more die on Everest as traffic jams blamed for increasing risk
- Photo shows dozens of climbers queuing for summit after short window of good weather leads to bottlenecks
- Two Indians and a Nepali die on the Nepal side and an Austrian on the way down on the northern Tibetan side
‘It wasn’t just about me’: Imam honored for unity efforts after UK race riots
- Three children were killed, and 10 others — eight of whom were children — were injured in an attack in Southport
- In days following attack, crowds gathered to demonstrate outside Liverpool mosque
LONDON: A Muslim leader in the UK has been recognized for his efforts to foster unity after embracing protesters outside Liverpool’s Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in the wake of a knife attack in the northern English town of Southport in July.
Three children were killed, and 10 others — eight of whom were children — were injured in the attack.
Axel Rudakubana was detained and charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder, and possession of a bladed article.
In the days following the attack, crowds gathered to demonstrate outside the mosque in Liverpool after misinformation was spread online about the knife attack suspect.
Imam Adam Kelwick described how he approached protesters outside the mosque once tensions had eased, offering food, handshakes, and conversations.
Photographs of the peaceful exchanges, which included sharing food and even hugs, went viral, symbolizing a moment of reconciliation.
After receiving the Most Impactful Imam accolade at the British Beacon Mosque Awards, Kelwick said: “It wasn’t just about me. I’m dedicating this award to the people of Liverpool, who really came together during difficult times.”
He added: “Some of the most vocal protesters, after everyone else had gone, came inside the mosque for a little tour.”
The imam praised Liverpool’s residents for their unity.
“For those who knew better than to blame a whole religion for the evil actions of one person, for those who came to defend our mosque, and even for those who protested but later reflected and opened their hearts,” he said.
Kelwick, also a humanitarian aid worker and long-time volunteer, expressed gratitude for the award, which recognizes the contributions of mosques and leaders across the UK.
India mosque survey sparks clashes, two dead
- Hindu nationalist activists were emboldened earlier this year when Modi inaugurated a grand new Hindu temple in Ayodhya, built on grounds once home to Babri mosque
LUCKNOW: Indian Muslim protesters clashed with police Sunday with at least two people killed in riots sparked by a survey investigating if a 17th-century mosque was built on a Hindu temple.
“Two persons were confirmed dead,” Pawan Kumar, a police officer in Sambhal in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, told AFP, adding that 16 police officers were “seriously injured” during the clashes.
The Press Trust of India news agency quoted officials saying three people had died.
Hindu activist groups have laid claim to several mosques they say were built over Hindu temples during the Muslim Mughal empire centuries ago.
Street battles broke out when a team of surveyors entered the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on orders from a local court, after a petition from a Hindu priest claiming it was built on the site of a Hindu temple.
Protesters on Sunday hurled rocks at police, who fired tear gas canisters to clear the crowd.
Hindu nationalist activists were emboldened earlier this year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a grand new Hindu temple in the northern city of Ayodhya, built on grounds once home to the centuries-old Babri mosque.
That mosque was torn down in 1992 in a campaign spearheaded by members of Modi’s party, sparking sectarian riots that killed 2,000 people nationwide, most of them Muslims.
Some Hindu campaigners see an ideological patron in Modi.
Calls for India to more closely align the country’s officially secular political system with its majority Hindu faith have rapidly grown louder since Modi was swept to office in 2014, making the country’s roughly 210-million-strong Muslim minority increasingly anxious about their future.
Man in critical condition after stabbing on London’s Westminster Bridge
- Authorities have said that the incident is not being treated as terrorism-related
LONDON: A man is in critical condition after being stabbed during a reported fight on Westminster Bridge in central London, the Metropolitan Police confirmed on Sunday.
Emergency services, including the London Ambulance Service and an air ambulance, were called to the scene at about 10:45 UK time and an injured man was rushed to hospital for treatment.
A London London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called today (Sunday) at 10.46 a.m. to reports of an incident on Westminster Bridge, SW1.
“We sent a number of resources including ambulance crews, an advanced paramedic, an incident response officer and London’s air ambulance.
“We treated a man at the scene before taking him to hospital,” they added.
Three individuals have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, while a fourth has been detained for affray, the BBC reported.
Two of the arrested suspects sustained minor facial injuries and were also taken to hospital, according to police.
Authorities have said that the incident is not being treated as terrorism-related.
In March 2017, Briton Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians who were walking on the pavement along Westminster Bridge and Bridge Street, injuring more than 50 people, four of them fatally, before killing an unarmed police officer in the grounds of the Palace of Westminster.
He was then shot by an armed police officer, and died at the scene.
Bangladesh prepares to send trained nurses to Saudi Arabia in 2025
- Authorities are preparing to fulfill a Saudi request for 150 Bangladeshi nurses
- Migration of skilled Bangladeshi workers has been on the rise this year, government data shows
DHAKA: Bangladesh is preparing to send the first batch of trained nurses to Saudi Arabia by early next year, the country’s state-owned recruiting agency told Arab News on Sunday.
Bangladeshi nationals make up the largest group of expatriates in Saudi Arabia, with nearly 3 million working and residing in the Kingdom. But only a few dozen clinicians are among the group, according to Bangladesh Medical Association data.
In 2022, the two countries signed an agreement on the recruitment of health workers, targeting the large numbers of certified doctors, nurses and medics from Bangladesh’s more than 100 medical colleges.
Bangladeshi authorities are now preparing a batch of over 100 nurses to send to Saudi Arabia, said the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd., a recruitment agency under the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment.
“We got a request to send 150 nurses to the Kingdom … If everything goes alright, we can expect the first batch to (fly out) to the Kingdom early next year,” BOESL Executive Director Shawkat Ali said.
In Saudi Arabia, nurses must undergo the Saudi Prometric Exam in order to practice in the Kingdom. Though Bangladesh has many nursing school graduates, most do not have the required Prometric certifications, he added.
“Our nurses are very skilled and industrious … We have received huge queries for the nurses. But here they need to have the Prometric certification. If we can prepare them in line with the Saudi requirements, it will open new opportunities for our nurses.”
Only around 2 percent of Bangladeshi workers in the Kingdom are skilled professionals, but the number has been on the rise since the beginning of the year, according to data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.
Though most Bangladeshi migrant workers are seeking employment in Saudi Arabia’s giga-projects under its Vision 2030 transformation plan, there has also been a growing demand for health workers from the South Asian nation.
“For our economy, exporting trained nurses to the Kingdom is a big opportunity. We are mostly an import-dependent country, so we need huge amounts of dollars to meet the import bills,” Ali said.
“If we can export a significant number of trained medical staffers, they would be able to send back more remittances.”
Ukraine shows fragments of new Russian missile after ‘Oreshnik’ strike
- Russia on Thursday carried out a strike on the city of Dnipro last week
- Use of IRBM in response to Ukraine’s firing US ATACMS and UK Storm Shadow missiles
UNDISCLOSED, Ukraine: Ukraine on Sunday showed journalists fragments of the Russian missile used to strike the city of Dnipro last week, after Moscow said it had tested its new Oreshnik ballistic missile.
Russia on Thursday carried out a strike on the city which President Vladimir Putin said was a test of its new Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).
Ukraine’s SBU security service displayed metal fragments, ranging from bulky to tiny, on fake grass in front of camouflage netting at an undisclosed location Sunday, AFP journalists saw.
The SBU did not name the missile used but said it was a type they had not seen before.
Oleg, one of its investigators, told journalists that “this is the first time the debris of such a missile has been found on the territory of Ukraine.
“This item had not been documented by security investigators before,” he added.
Oleg said that investigators are examining the fragments and will later “provide answers” on the characteristics of the missile.
He said that the missile was ballistic and had caused damage to civilian and “other infrastructure” in Dnipro.
In a televised address Thursday, Putin said Russia used the IRBM in response to Ukraine’s firing US ATACMS and UK Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory, after the Kyiv allies lifted a ban on it using long-range weaponry to fire into Russia.
Putin said the missile flies at 10 times the speed of sound and cannot be intercepted by air defenses.
The president said it hit a defense industry production facility in Dnipro “which still produces missile equipment and other weapons.”
A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman was heard answering a phone call about a strike on Yuzhmash during a press briefing. Yuzhmash is the Russian name of an aerospace manufacturer in Dnipro now called Pivdenmash.
Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has confirmed whether this was the target.
Putin has promised more combat testing of the Oreshnik missile and said it will go into serial production.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the strike “the latest bout of Russian madness” and appealed for updated air-defense systems to meet the new threat.
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence has said Kyiv knew several prototypes of the missile had been produced before it was fired.
