Two climbers from Telugu states die after scaling Mount Everest

HYDERABAD: Two Indian climbers from the Telugu states died in two separate incidents while descending from Mount Everest, after successfully summiting the world's highest peak, earlier this week. The deceased have been identified as Arun Kumar Tiwari (53) and Sandeep Are (46). While Tiwari had migrated to Hyderabad from Uttar Pradesh, Are belonged to Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh. He was working in Phoenix, Arizona.

Both had trained with the Hyderabad-based expedition group Boots and Crampons, confirmed its co-founder Bharath Thammineni, speaking to TOI from the base camp on Friday evening. According to him, the group's other co-founder Romil Barthwal, too suffered severe frostbite injuries to three fingers during the rescue operations and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nepal.

Arun, a senior professional with an IT company, was an avid mountaineer who had previously climbed Denali, the highest peak in North America, Mount Elbrus, the tallest mountain in Russia, and Mt Aconcagua near Argentine-Chilien border, among several other expeditions. He had attempted Everest last year as well but had to abandon the climb at around 7,200 metres due to health complications at high altitude.

Bharath told TOI that Arun had successfully summited Everest at approximately 5.30 pm on May 21. "He had two experienced climbing Sherpa guides and they were trying to descend together, but he became exhausted at the Hillary Step, a 12-metre rock face on the southeast ridge of Mount Everest, and guides were not able to bring him back," Bharath added.

Tiwari died near Hillary Step while being assisted by four Sherpa guides during the descent. "His body is yet to be retrieved as recovery operations at such extreme altitudes are highly difficult. It could cost around 100,000 USD. We have informed his family, who are expected to confirm by tomorrow whether they want to proceed with it. The Sherpas are also returning tomorrow, following which we will be able to ascertain the exact cause of death," Bharath said.

Arun is survived by his wife and two children.

Sandeep, meanwhile, reached the summit on May 20 at around 10.55 am. According to Bharath, he was among the strongest members of the team and had undergone rigorous preparation over the past year.

"Shortly after beginning his descent, Sandeep developed severe snow blindness after spending considerable time on the summit. He removed his goggles to take a few photographs with flags. The condition rapidly worsened, leaving him with almost zero visibility and severe burning sensation in his eyes. This led to him developing High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE), a life-threatening condition caused by fluid accumulation in the brain," said Dipanjan Das, a close acquaintance of Bharath,.

A team of Sherpas brought him down from higher camps, after a 48-hour-long rescue operation, but Sandeep died at Camp II on the night of May 21. He is survived by his wife and an 18-year-old son.

An experienced endurance athlete and mountaineer, Sandeep's past climbs included Mount Kilimanjaro in 2024, Africa's tallest peak, the Everest Base Camp trek and Lobuche East in 2025, and Aconcagua in 2026, the tallest mountain in South America. He had also completed the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim hike multiple times.

Three Indians, including Are, were part of a record 274 climbers who summited the 8,848.86-metre peak from the Nepal side on Wednesday, making it the highest number of ascents recorded in a single day. Two other Indian climbers from the expedition — Tulasi Reddu Pulpunoori and Ajay Pal Singh Dhaliwal — descended safely after summiting Everest.