Two dead Everest climbers identified, 30 sick on mountain

KATHMANDU, Nepal, May 22 (UPI) -- Two experienced climbers who both reached the summit of Mount Everest died while descending the mountain over the weekend, reportedly due to altitude sickness.

Thirty others still on the mountain are suffering from severe frostbite and altitude sickness.

Professional mountain climber Eric Arnold, 36, originally from the Netherlands, died on the mountain Friday. Australian financial lecturer Maria Strydom, 34, of Melbourne, died on Everest Saturday. They were the first people killed on the mountain in 2016, The Guardian reported.

Both had complained of a lack of energy and sickness. Arnold is believed to have died in his sleep.

More than 250 people have died climbing Mount Everest since 1953 and many of those were due to altitude related illnesses.

Strydom's mother, Maritha Strydom, announced the news of her daughter's death on facebook but said she was "too devastated to communicate." Her daughter, who also went by the name Marisa, was a lecturer at Monash University and had traveled the world climbing mountains from Alaska to Africa, where she was born.

Strydom was on her way down from Camp 4 to Camp 3 when she fell ill, Phurba Sherpa, a board director at Seven Summit Treks, said.

"After reaching the summit yesterday she said she was feeling very weak and suffering from a loss of energy ... signs of altitude sickness," Sherpa said Sunday.

Arnold, who was also a motivational speaker, had made several previous attempts to reach the Everest summit, the Washington Post reported.

He survived the avalanche at base camp the previous year which left 18 dead, including four Americans, following a massive earthquake that measured 7.9 on the Richter Scale.

Just in the last eight years, Strydom had climbed Denali in Alaska, Aconcagua in Argentina, Mount Ararat in Turkey and Kilimanjaro in Africa, ABC reported.

About 330 climbers have successfully scaled Mount Everest this season, including Alyssa Azar who summitted on Saturday, becoming the youngest Australian to do so.