Climbers hunt abandoned Everest corpses

LONDON, May 2 (UPI) -- A British couple who climbed Nepal's Mount Everest and abandoned a fellow disabled climber in 1998 has set out to find and bury her frozen body.

Mountaineer Ian Woodall, Cathy O'Dowd and a small party of sherpas began the climb to where the body of Francys Arsentiev was left, The (London) Independent reported Wednesday.

Woodall told the newspaper there are two other corpses above 26,000 feet that serve as climbing markers by the colors of their parkas or boots. He said he hoped all three could be located and buried.

Woodall said he and wife listened to Arsentiev beg for more than an hour not to leave her, but he said there was no option but to continue in the dangerous conditions that prevailed on the mountain.

"There was nothing that could be done even before we reached her," O'Dowd said. "People always say there is but sometimes there just isn't."

At least 203 people are known to have lost their lives on Everest since it was first climbed more than 50 years ago. Most have never been recovered, the newspaper said.