Family Decides To Leave Hyderabad-Based Mountaineer's Body on Mt Everest

Hyderabad: The family members of city-based mountaineer Arun Kumar Tiwari, who died while descending from Mt Everest last week, have decided to leave the body on the mountain itself.

According to Tiwari's brother-in-law Sudhir Upadhyaya, the decision was based on faith and the technical complications involved in bringing back the body.

"He (Tiwari) is in Lord Shiva's abode. The process of bringing the body... it would have been very badly damaged by the time it reaches us. Such operations there (Everest) are also not known to be successful," he told PTI on Wednesday.

Tiwari (53) died near the Hillary Step, just below the summit, after falling ill during his descent last week while being assisted by four Sherpa climbers, according to Nivesh Karki, Director at Nepal-based Pioneer Adventures, which organised the expedition.

Tiwari (53), a senior director in an IT major here, is an accomplished mountaineer.

He had climbed Mt Elbrus (Russia), Mt Denali (US) and Mt Aconcagua (Argentina), besides multiple peaks in the past. He had attempted Mt Everest in 2025 but withdrew after climbing about 7,200 metres owing to health issues, sources said.

Bringing the body down from Hillary Step on Everest is a perilous and very expensive operation as it requires a team of eight to 12 highly skilled Sherpas and large amounts of bottled oxygen, sources said.

Located at roughly 8,790 meters near the summit, the Hillary Step sits squarely in the "Death Zone," where oxygen availability is a major issue. This leaves human bodies and rescuers constantly on the brink of exhaustion, frostbite, and altitude sickness.

Besides Tiwari, Sandeep Are (46), a US-based IT professional, a native of Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh, also died after climbing Mt Everest.

According to Shyam, brother-in-law of Sandeep, he scaled the Everest on May 20 but succumbed to health complications on May 21.

Shaym said the funeral of Sandeep was conducted in Bengaluru on Wednesday.