KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 16

A British climber died at the high camp of Lobuche peak last week, taking the death toll of the ongoing climbing season to three in the Everest region.

According to sources, Andrew James Clayton, 41, from the United Kingdom breathed his last while resting at the Lobuche high camp above 5,000m on November 6.

​​​​​​'He collapsed inside his camp,' witnesses shared.

The deceased's body has already been taken to the UK after conducting legal and medical formalities in Kathmandu, sources added.

Andrew's death has not been made public by authorities as Elite Expedition, a guiding company run by famed climber Nirmal Purja 'Nimsdai', refused to divulge details to the authorities concerned, a senior official at the Nepal Mountaineering Association claimed.

Neither the Department of Tourism nor the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee were aware of the incident, the same sources elaborated further

Andrew was a part of the Lobuche Expedition run by Elite Expedition and permitted by NMA. Purja told THT that the issue had already been resolved and he had no comments to make at this point.

'Andrew was planning to scale the peak in the morning of 6th November, but he could not. His guide Tenji Sherpa was there along with other team members. Andrew was also heading for the summit but due to his deteriorating health, he was brought down to high camp. He was told to drop down to the camp below or call for evacuation but he told he was ok and planned to go for the Everest base camp the next day to his guide Tenji. He was ok till 4 pm and then he took a nap and never stood,' sources quoted the expedition organiser as saying.

According to the Department of Tourism, French climber Morschel Jean-Marc, 61, who stayed a night at Camp III of Ama Dablam after returning from the summit late in the evening on November 3, passed away the next morning. Mingma Wangdi Sherpa had died at Camp III while descending from Ama Dablam summit on October 17.