Nepali climbers have retrieved four bodies and collected some 11 tonnes of decades-old garbage from Mount Everest and its approach below the base camp as part of a drive to clean up the world’s highest mountain, the government said on Wednesday. Everest was first conquered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 and about 5,000 people have since reached the summit. Nepal on Thursday urged friends and families of the four climbers whose bodies were brought down to come forward and identify them. “We’re waiting for families to come and claim the bodies,” Dandu Raj Ghimire, director general of the Department of Tourism, told Reuters. Nepal this year issued 381 permits to Everest, costing $11,000 each, an important source of income for the cash-strapped nation.

Source: National Post June 06, 2019 14:15 UTC