Cheruiyot Kirui: Kenyan Banker Who Disappeared 8,000m Above Mt Everest Found Dead

• Cheruiyot Kirui's adventurous sojourn to the summit point of Mt Everest ended tragically on Thursday, May 23
• It was on May 17 when the Kenyan put himself on a trial of ascending the world's highest mountain without supplemental oxygen
• The banker working for Kenya's KCB was reported missing after reaching 8,000 meters above the mountain

Kai Eli, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings more than three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

Kenyan banker Cheruiyot Kirui has been confirmed dead near the peak of Everest.

The banker attached to the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) had disappeared after scaling 8,000 metres above the world's highest mountain.

Kenyan climber's sad ending

Rescuer guides deployed by his host expedition company found his body hours after he was reported missing.

"With profound sadness, we share the news of Kenyan mountaineer Cheruiyot Kirui's passing on Mt Everest. His body was found a few meters below the summit point of Mt Everest. He was on a daring mission to reach the summit without supplementary oxygen and was accompanied by a Nepali climber Nawang Sherpa, whose fate is still unknown," said Everest Today in an obit message.

Kirui was in the company of a sherpa with whom they lost radio communication with the host expedition company.

The guide in his company was still missing at the time of this publication.

He was scaling under Seven Summit Treks, a Nepali commercial adventure operator.

A 48-year-old Romanian climber on the same trail who was also scaling without supplemental oxygen was found dead earlier inside his tent.

What was Kirui's fear before the Mt Everest climb?

While getting fixated on his plan to scale without oxygen, Kirui had admitted it was a risky business.

He was alive to the fact that most mountaineers who had embraced the no-oxygen challenge did not end it alive.

Still insisting on the dare-devil adventure, Kirui was aware he suffered from High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE), which would be worsened by the ascension to higher altitudes.

He, therefore, armed himself with Nifedipine which would help relax the heart muscles and blood vessels if HAPE visited him during the climb.

At the extreme of the unfavourable conditions, he banked on his sherpa who would carry emergency oxygen.

Proofreading by Nyambura Guthua, journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke