Kenyan mountaineer dead and Nepali sherpa missing after trying to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen

The body of 40-year-old Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui was found about 20 meters from the summit of the world’s highest mountain, an official of Nepal’s Department of Tourism told CNN.

An experienced Kenyan mountaineer died Wednesday and rescuers are still searching for the Nepali sherpa who was with him, after the team attempted to summit Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, according to the Nepali government and his employer. The body of 40-year-old Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui was found about 20 meters from the summit of the world’s highest mountain, an official of Nepal’s Department of Tourism told CNN. “His sherpa is still missing and the expedition agency is still searching for him,” the official Gautam Khim Lal also told CNN by phone, was speaking from the foot of the mountain. Kirui, a banker based in Nairobi, and the 44-year-old guide Nawang Sherpa were reported missing early Wednesday after going out of radio contact. A rescue team then began searching for them in camps and trails along the expansive mountain, Khim Lal told CNN. Kirui’s body was discovered on Wednesday night local time in Nepal, at about 28,970 feet (8,830 meters) above sea level. His employer KCB Bank called him “a passionate athlete and mountaineer,” saying he was “the second Kenyan to ever summit Mt Everest” in an post on X.