China cancels Everest spring climbing over coronavirus worries
2021-05-17 09:05     Source : Agencies

China has canceled attempts to climb Mount Qomolangma from its side of the world’s highest peak because of fears of importing COVID-19 cases from neighboring Nepal, China’s General Administration of Sport said on Friday.

The peak also known as Mount Everest straddles the China-Nepal border, with its northern part located in Tingri County, Xigaze, in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

According to Himalayan Expedition, the only expedition organizer on the north side this climbing season, all climbers have been resting in Tingri for the past few days, and the company will not make another attempt to ascend.

China had issued permits to 21 people, all Chinese citizens, to climb the 8,849-meter-high mountain this spring. In contrast, Nepal, which is so short of oxygen canisters it has asked mountaineers to bring back their empties, has issued a record 408 permits to climb Everest in the April-May season after last year’s closure.

In Nepal, several climbers have tested positive for COVID-19 after they were brought down from the base camp.

Editor: 谭晶