Family of dead Australian climber seeks repatriation of her body as Everest season peaks

Record ID: 102336

  • Title: Family of dead Australian climber seeks repatriation of her body as Everest season peaks
  • Date: 23rd May 2016
  • Summary: KATHMANDU, NEPAL (MAY 23, 2016) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF HOTEL SIGN READING IN ENGLISH: SAMSAR RESORT PHOTOGRAPHERS INJURED EVEREST CLIMBER ROBERT GROPEL SITTING IN HOTEL LOBBY WITH HIS PARENTS ROBERT AND PATRICIA TALKING ROBERT AND HEINZ TALKING KATHMANDU, NEPAL (MAY 22, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF NEPAL TOURISM DEPARTMENT, SUDARSHAN PRASAD DHAKAL, SAYING: "I got the information from the base camp, by the concerned liaison officer. So, one people from Australia, Australian citizen, Maria Elizabeth Strydom; is a Mrs. Similarly, from Netherlands, Eric Ary Arnold. Both people dead in May 21, when they climbed Mount Everest, and back from the top, on the way, they died." KATHMANDU, NEPAL (MAY 23, 2016) (REUTERS) HOTEL EXTERIOR
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2016 13:28
  • Keywords: Nepal Mount Everest Australian family members Maria Strydom Robert Gropel Eric Ary Arnold
  • Location: KATHMANDU, NEPAL
  • City: KATHMANDU, NEPAL
  • Country: Nepal
  • Topics: Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014J13TC5
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The parents of an injured Australian climber travelled to Nepal on Monday (May 23) to help their son retrieve the body of his wife from Mount Everest after she became the second person to perish on the world's highest mountain in as many days.
    Maria Strydom, a 34-year-old university lecturer, developed altitude sickness and died while descending from the summit on Saturday, the Kathmandu-based company that organised her expedition said.
    Strydom's husband, veterinarian Robert Gropel, was part of the climbing team and also suffered high altitude pulmonary oedema on the descent.
    Gropel's parents arrived in Kathmandu on Monday hoping to arrange a helicopter evacuation for their son and his wife's body to Kathmandu.
    The deaths of Strydom and Dutch climber Eric Ary Arnold are sober reminders of the deadly risks of scaling the 8,850-metre (29,035 feet) peak. Their ascents were among the first in three years.
    An Indian mountaineer died on Sunday (May 22) while descending from the summit of Mount Everest, making the in the third fatality in as many days.
    At least 18 people died a year ago when an earthquake sent a massive snow slide careening into Base Camp, while an avalanche in the treacherous Khumbu Icefall killed 16 guides in 2014. The back-to-back tragedies had halted climbing on Everest.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register