The death of Cheruiyot Kirui, a mountaineer who took the challenge of climbing Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen has got Kenyans talking for days. There was even a video shared on social media alleging that Cheruiyot’s body was being retrieved from the mountain.
The video, however, turned out to be fake as the body did not belong to Cheruiyot and it was shared Mountain.trekking Instagram page weeks before his death.
According to a post on X by Goddie, it’s extremely dangerous, torturous, and expensive to retrieve a dead body from Mount Everest. The cost of retrieving a body in Mount Everest can go up to Ksh.9 million, together with a fatal price.
Since many families who lost their loved ones in such a thrilling adventure don’t dare to spend so much, over 200 bodies lie unretrieved on Mt. Everest. Due to the extreme temperatures, the bodies remain intact for several years without decomposing.
According to Ultimate Kilimanjaro, the high altitude and extreme weather conditions have made it hard to retrieve dead, frozen bodies from the mountain. They add that frozen bodies can be quite heavy weighing over 136 kg.
While Helicopters can come in handy for the retrieval of bodies, they can only land at Camp 2, 6,400 meters. The air density on the upper slopes cannot allow helicopters to go past Camp 2.
Cheruiyot’s selfie on Mt. Everest
While this is a tragedy that remains printed in the minds of the affected families, all they can do is hold memorial services at home leaving their loved ones to rest on the mountain. The highest rescue done on Mt. Everest using a helicopter was up to 7,800 meters and that was only possible because the weather was calm.
Given these obstacles, is it still possible to bring back the body of the Kenyan Mountaineer, Cheruiyot who died at the summit of the mountain 8,000 meters away?
Will Cheruiyot’s Body Be Retrieved?
Out of 300 deaths that occur on Everest, 200 of them were irretrievable due to the high costs and unfavorable conditions. With this in mind, there’s little hope of Cheruiyot’s body being retrieved from the mountain.
However, the family and friends of the dedicated mountaineer are not losing hope in bringing their kin home. While they agree that they don’t have enough information yet, one of Cheruiyot’s friends says there’s a plan in place to figure out how to bring their kin back home.
According to the family, they’re figuring out two factors that will make them decide whether to bring the body home or not. One of the factors is cost since they understand how expensive it can be to retrieve a dead body from the mountain.
Another factor they have to consider is the weather which has to be conducive for the retrieval of the body.
With this information, there’s still hope that Cheruiyot will be one of the few heroes whose bodies make it home to burial. As of now, all we can do is wait for the family to speak about their final decision.
