A view of the Mount Everest.
| Photo Credit: AP
Two Indian mountaineers who summited Everest have died while descending, an official said on Friday (May 22, 2026).
The climbers, identified as Arun Kumar Tiwari and Sandeep Are, were exhausted while they were coming down from the peak and could not be saved despite the best efforts of their guides, said Rishi Bhandari, secretary general of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal.
It appears that Are summited on Wednesday (May 20, 2026) and Tiwari on Thursday (May 21, 2026) around 5.30 p.m., Bhandari told PTI.
The guides “worked really hard” but were not able to save them, he said.
Are died on Thursday (May 21, 2026) and it is not clear when Tiwari passed away. Further details are awaited.
On Wednesday (May 20, 2026), three Indians, including Are, were part of 274 climbers who summited the 8,848.86-metre peak. It was a new record for the highest number of ascents ever recorded in a day. The other two were Tulasi Reddi Palpunoori and Ajay Pal Singh Dhaliwal.
The following day, on Thursday (May 21, 2026), India’s Lakshmikanta Mandal also reached the world’s highest peak.
Published – May 22, 2026 12:39 pm IST
