AFP

KATHMANDU FOUR climbers from Germany, South Korea, China and Canada have died returning from the summit of Mount Everest, tour agents and officials said on Monday, with one other mountaineer also missing.

The 61-year-old German and the South Korean aged 44 died on the south face of the world’s highest peak on Sunday, Ang Tshering Sherpa of the Kathmandu-based Asian Trekking adventure agency said.

“We are sad to announce the death of Eberhard Schaaf, of Germany, at the south side of the summit of Mount Everest,” Sherpa said.

“The medical staff at the Himalayan Rescue Association believe the cause of death to be altitude sickness.” Sherpa said South Korean Song Won-Bin, who had been missing since Saturday, died at “The Balcony”, an area near the top of the 8,848-metre (29,029-feet) peak.

The Seoul-based Yonhap news agency said Song had collapsed due to altitude sickness and fallen off a cliff, quoting a diplomat at the South Korean embassy in Kathmandu.