OXFORD, England, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- More people are dying from injuries, exhaustion and altitude related illness climbing Mount Everest, says a British doctor and climber.
Dr. Andrew Sutherland, of the Nuffield Department of Surgery, in Oxford, England, who served as the doctor on the Everestmax expedition, says he was shocked by both the amount of altitude-related illness and the relative lack of knowledge among people attempting Everest.
This year the unofficial body count on Mount Everest has reached 15, the most since the disaster of 1996 when 16 people died, eight in one night following an unexpected storm.
"Some people believe that part of the reason for the increase in deaths is the number of inexperienced climbers who pay large sums of money to ascend Everest," he writes in the British Medical Journal.
"In my view, climbers are not climbing beyond their ability but instead beyond their altitude ability. Unfortunately it is difficult to get experience of what it is like climbing above Camp 3 at 9,130 yards without climbing Everest."
