Indian and Filipino trekkers become first casualties of new Everest climbing season

Two mountaineers from India and the Philippines have become the first to die on Mount Everest in the ongoing climbing season of the world's highest peak.

The Indian national has been identified as Subrata Ghosh, 45, from West Bengal, who died on Thursday below the Hillary Step while returning after summiting the 8,849m peak.

“He refused to descend from below the Hillary Step,” Bodhraj Bhandari of Nepal's Snowy Horizon Treks and Expedition organising company said.

Ghosh reportedly became exhausted during his descent, showed signs of altitude sickness and then refused to continue.

The Hillary Step is located in the Everest “death zone”, an area between South Col at 8,000m and the summit where the level of natural oxygen is inadequate for survival.

"Efforts are underway to bring his body down to the base camp," Mr Bhandari said. “The cause of his death will be known only after postmortem.”

The Filipino climber, Philipp II Santiago, 45, died on Wednesday at South Col while he was on his way up, Himal Gautam, a Nepali tourism department official, said.

Santiago was tired when he reached the fourth high camp and died resting in his tent. “We’re consulting to bring his body back to the base camp,” Mr Gautam said.

Nepal has issued 459 permits to climb Mount Everest during the current season, which started in March and ends in May.

Nearly 100 climbers and their guides reached the summit this week, Reuters reported.

Mountain climbing, trekking and tourism is a significant source of income and employment for Nepal, which is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks.

But the Himalayan nation, one of the world’s poorest, has felt compelled to hike the permit fee by 36 per cent from $11,000 to $15,000 in order to curb increasing "human traffic" on the mountain.

The new rate will come into effect from September and apply along the standard Southeast Ridge, or the South Col route, pioneered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

At least 345 people have died on Mount Everest since summiting expeditions started over 100 years ago, according to the Nepali government.