Japanese climber dies on eighth Everest attempt

A Japanese climber who previously lost all but one of his fingers while climbing Mount Everest has died trying to reach the mountain's summit.

Nobukazu Kuriki, 35, was found dead in his tent by Sherpas on Monday morning, a Nepalese government official said.

It was his eighth attempt to scale the world's highest mountain.

Kuriki is the second climber to die on Everest in recent days, after a Macedonian national died at a higher altitude on Sunday.

The company which organised Kuriki's expedition said arrangements were being made for his body to be returned to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.

No further details about the circumstances of his death are available due to poor communication links, tourism official Gyanendra Shrestha told Reuters.

Kuriki suffered severe frostbite during an ascent in 2012 and lost nine digits. But his determination to reach the summit remained, and he returned again in 2015.

He had been documenting his most recent journey with video updates on Facebook; a message on Sunday read: "I feel the pain and difficulty of this mountain."

His body was discovered at camp 2, around 1,400m (4,600ft) below the summit of the 8,848m (29,029ft) mountain.

Nearly 350 climbers have been given permits to climb the Everest this year, assisted by more than 500 Nepali guides and porters.

Earlier this month, a Chinese climber who lost both of his feet to frostbite in 1975 returned to become the second double amputee to reach the summit.