A 51-year-old Austrian climber has died on an expedition to summit Nepal's Manaslu peak, the world's eighth-highest mountain, an official said Friday. The climber, part of a team of 14, was descending after a successful summit of the 8,156-metre (26,759-foot) tall mountain on Thursday when he died. "An Austrian climber died on his way back near Camp 4 late Thursday. We do not have details about the cause of death," said Nepal tourism official, Gyanendra Shrestha.
Shrestha told AFP that an emergency rescue team had airlifted a French climber from the same team to a lower camp on the same day. Nepal had granted permits to 106 climbers this autumn season for Manaslu peak. More than 40 mountaineers have summited successfully but two leading operators cancelled their expeditions, citing waist-deep snow and exposure to avalanches en route to the peak.