Japanese Climber Dies During 8th Attempt to Reach Top of Mount Everest

The climber, identified as 35-year-old Nobukazu Kuriki, was found dead while sleeping by Sherpas at a camp located at around 7,400 meters (24,278 feet) of the 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) tall mountain, according to Nepal tourism department official Gyanendra Shrestha, Reuters reported.

Kuriki was able to record one last audio recording, which was published online a day before he was found dead at a camp on Everest where he said: “I feel the pain and difficulty of this mountain,” according to BBC.

Officials have yet to release any specific information regarding his death due to poor communication links with the higher camp, said in the reports.

This was Kuriki’s eighth attempt at climbing Everest.

In 2012, he made a failed attempt that resulted in him losing nine of his fingertips from severe frostbite after spending two days in a snow hole at around 8,230 meters (27,000 feet) on Everest with a reported temperature of below minus 20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit).

Determined to reach for his dream, Kuriki returned to the mountain again in 2015.

Kuriki is the second to die attempting to climb Everest in just a matter of days, with 63-year-old Macedonian national, Gjeorgi Petkov, being the first to have died on Sunday.

While there have been some who were not very lucky in reaching the top, there are those who have managed reach the summit of Everest after taking full advantage of the good weather. One of the most recent climbers to ever make it is elderly Chinese man Xia Boyu, who lost both of his legs below the knee while attempting to summit.

Featured image via YouTube / 栗城史多 “Share the Dream”