Cheruyoit Kirui's Climbing Guide Nawang Sherpa Still Missing, Mt Everest Officials Say

• On Thursday, May 23, Khimlal Gautam, Chief of Expedition Monitoring, announced that Kenyan climber Cheruyoiyt Kirui had died
• The Kenyan man was in the company of his guide, with whom they lost their radio communication with the organisers of the expedition
• Rescue sherpas are tracing the movements of Kirui's guide, Nawang Sherpa, who disappeared after climbing 8,000 metres on Everest

Amos Khaemba, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

Asia - Rescuers are still tracing the mountaineer who lost radio communication with their host expedition companies while scaling Mount Everest.

What Everest expedition organisers said

On Thursday, May 23, Khimlal Gautam, Chief of Expedition Monitoring, announced Cheruyoiyt Kirui's death.

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

However, Gautam said Sherda, Kirui's guide, was still missing, but his search was ongoing.

“We have received a report that the research and rescue team have found the body of the Kenyan climber, while his guide remains missing. The search for him is going on,” said Khimlal Gautam as reported by Everest Today.

Cheruiyot and Sherpa were part of the Seven Summit Treks, which attempted to climb Mt. Everest without oxygen support.

Speaking to the Himalayan Times, Seven Summit Treks chairman Mingma Sherpa said organisers lost contact with Kirui at Bishop Rock, just a few metres below the summit.

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 the ascension to higher altitudes would worsen.

Therefore, he 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, Sherpauld, to carry emergency oxygen.

Proofreading by Otukho Jackson, a multimedia journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke