At least four more climbers have died on the overcrowded slopes of Mount Everest after a run of clear weather saw mountaineers stuck for hours in a high altitude human traffic jam.

The latest deaths followed two other deaths on Wednesday, which were blamed on the tailbacks to reach the 8,848m (29,030ft) peak. A Nepali guide is also believed to have died. 

One of the four was identified as Irish climber Kevin Hynes, 56, who died in his tent  at 7,000 metres in the early hours of Friday, after turning back before reaching the summit.

Local media identified the other three new victims as two Indians and an Austrian. Kalpana Das, a 49-year-old from Odisha; Nihal Ashpak Bagwan, a 27-year-old from Pune, and Ernst Landgraf all died descending the world’s tallest mountain.

This year is likely to be a bumper year for people reaching the summit. The Himalayan nation has issued a record 381 permits costing $11,000 each for this year’s spring climbing season, sparking fears of bottlenecks en route to the summit if poor weather cuts down the number of climbing days. With each climber normally accompanied by at least one Sherpa guide, the mountain is likely to see more than 750 climbers treading the path to the top. At least 140 others have been granted permits to climb from the northern side in Tibet, meaning the total number to reach the summit could pass last year’s record of 807.

Alan Arnette, who writes about Everest, said the short spring climbing season only normally allowed 7 to 12 good weather days to reach the summit. He said so far in 2019, there had only been two good weather breaks, consisting of a total of five days. With so few opportunities and so many permits, he said it was “simply impossible to squeeze that many people through the notorious bottlenecks on both sides”.

Hiking officials say between five and ten climbers die on Mount Everest in an average climbing year.

A total of 15 climbers have died or are missing on different Himalayan peaks in Nepal, seven of them Indians, since the start of the climbing season in March.

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