Faced with unfavourable weather, Nepalese rescuers today abandoned plans to retrieve the bodies of two Indian climbers who died while scaling Mount Everest and will now attempt to bring them down only next year.
Rescue work was halted as the mountaineering season is over and it will not be possible to go to the mountain due to unfavourbale weather conditions, said Wangchhu Sherpa, managing director of Trekking Camp Nepal, that managed the expedition.
The two climbers -- identified as Paresh Nath and Goutam Ghosh -- were near the summit of the 8,848-metre mountain on May 21 when they lost contact with the rest of their team.
In all, three Indian climbers died while scaling the world's highest peak this season.
The body of Subhas Paul was brought to Kathmandu last week. However, the bodies of Nath and Ghosh, who also died last week, could not be brought back as the monsoon season has started and the rescue efforts have to abandoned, Sherpa said.
Paul died while descending from the summit after the climb.
Now the rescue work to bring down the bodies can only take place next year, Sherpa said.
Rescuers had located Nath's body last Friday near the South Col, located at an altitude of 8,000 metres and made an attempt to bring it back but failed.
Ghosh's body was also spotted the same day on the 'Balcony' -- a mid-way stop between the South Col and the summit. However, strong winds forced back rescuers, Sherpa said.
The Everest climbing season has come to an end. This season around 450 climbers successfully scaled Everest.
