China

Sharp unrescuable, says Chinese mountaineer

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-28 09:14

Chinese female mountaineer Luo Lili regretted David Sharp's death in the Mount Qomolangma but said the British climber was at a nearly unrescuable height.

"Mountaineers all know the height above 7,000m is very dangerous and usually deemed as an unrescuable height," said Luo on Saturday, who just returned from a May 15 scaling of the world highest peak.

Sharp, 34, ran out of oxygen and died in a snow cave just 300 meters from the summit on his way down the Himalayan mountain. Dozens of people had walked right past him, unwilling to risk their own lives.

The world is angry. Sir Edmund Hillary, who was on the team that first surmounted Mt Qomolangma in 1953, called it "horrifying" that climbers would leave a dying man.

Luo disagreed with Hillary.

"At 8,534 metes where Sharp died, every climber feels worn out and was unable to offer help," she said.

"I had once been trapped at where Sharp died and a dozen climbers, including David Sharp, walked past me."