Young Sherpa plunges to his death on Everest

A Nepalese mountaineer slipped into a crevasse and plunged to his death on Mount Everest Wednesday, the third fatality of the summit season, an expedition organiser said.

Lobsang Sherpa, 22, a member of a team guiding a commercial expedition up the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) mountain, was returning to the team's campsite when he fell, said Mingma Sherpa of climbing agency Seven Summits Treks.

"He was returning from the height of 8,000 metres after hauling the tents for an 11-member Chinese expedition team," he said, adding that the body had been recovered and was being airlifted to Kathmandu.

Two other climbers have died on the world's highest peak this season.

Last month Mingmar Sherpa, 47, a member of an elite team known as "icefall doctors" who set up climbing routes, plunged to his death. DaRita Sherpa, 47, died from what is believed to have been cardiac arrest on Sunday morning.

Last season, six climbers died on Everest, making it one of the deadliest years in recent memory and sparking a debate about whether overcrowding was contributing to the death toll.

More than 3,000 people have climbed Everest and approximately 300 have perished since it was first conquered by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Every year hundreds more set out in April to attempt the climb.

A brawl that erupted late last month between three European climbers and Nepalese guides high on Everest has cast a shadow over this year's climbing season, which marks the 60th anniversary of the maiden summit.

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