Fatal accident on Everest North Side: Japanese woman

[7summits]

This just came in, it is not clear if this is the same fatality as mentioned before (there were talks about a Korean fatality, but ofcourse it's hard to tell even a woman from a man in a down suit with oxygen masks..)

[edit] see below for more details of the Japanese fatality and the other post for info about the Korean deaths.[/edit]

[/i]

Woman, 63, Dies after Conquering Everest
"PA"
A Japanese woman died today while descending Mount Everest after making it to the top of the world’s highest mountain.

Shoko Ota, 63, had made the summit with a guide and a fellow climber today, Tokyo-based Adventure Guides said.

But she became unable to move and lost consciousness during their descent, about 1,120 feet from the summit of the 29,035-foot mountain.

The team’s leader, Kenji Kondo, said Ota had stopped breathing and lost her pulse.

(from the scotsman website)

[7summits]

There is more detail about the Japanese woman who died:

Oldest woman to reach Mt. Everest's peak dies

Yomiuri Shimbun

A 63-year-old Japanese doctor who had just become the oldest woman to climb Mt. Everest died Thursday after falling unconscious 350 meters into her descent from the summit, the Tokyo-based firm that organized her expedition said.

According to Adventures Guide Co., Shoko Ota, a physician from Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, was roped to her fellow climbers when she fell unconscious at an altitude of about 350 meters below the 8,850-meter summit.

She stopped breathing and died despite efforts by tour leader Kenji Kondo, 41, and others to resuscitate her, the firm said.
Ota became the sixth Japanese woman to scale the world's highest peak and the oldest woman to do so alongside mountaineer Tamae Watanabe, who also was 63 years old when she reached the summit in May 2002.

The expedition, which was open to the public, set out from Narita Airport on April 14, and Ota and three male climbers started their ascent April 24, the firm said.

According to a diary on the firm's Web site in which the expedition's progress was charted, Ota and two other members of the party reached the summit at 10:47 a.m. local time.

Buffeted by driving wind and snow and worried about the difficult descent, the group immediately started to climb back down the mountain, according to the online diary.

Ota started mountaineering at the age of 40. In January 2001, she scaled 5,895-meter Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya, Africa's highest peak, and in September 2002, she reached the peak of Mt. Cho Oyu in the Himalayas, which at 8,201 meters is the world's sixth- highest mountain. In January, Ota completed a successful ascent to the 4,897-meter summit of Mt. Vinson, the highest mountain in Antarctica.

"Mountaineers from across the world flock to Mt. Everest at this time of year because this is when the climate is most settled, just before the rainy season," said Takashi Ozaki, 51, from Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, who in May 1980 made the first full ascent of the north face of Mt. Everest.

"However, sudden snowstorms are not uncommon," he added.

Mountaineering tours aimed at the general public surged in popularity in North America and Europe during the 1990s.
A number of companies also started running climbing tours in the Himalayas, which is known as the "roof of the world".
At base camp, tour organizers give instruction on mountaineering, work out climbing schedules and take responsibility for preparing equipment, food and oxygen flasks.


(from yomiuri.co.jp

Note that MountEverest reports that she was not the oldest woman to have climbed Everest:

Shoko Ota was 63 and 80 days the second oldest to summit Everest after Tamae WATANABE who is 63 years and 176 days
 

[7summits]

A bit more detail about Shoko Ota from the news24 website

Tokyo - A 63-year-old Japanese woman has died on Mount Everest after becoming the second-oldest woman to conquer the world's highest peak, a Tokyo-based firm which organised her climb said on Friday.

Shoko Ota, 63, fell unconscious on Thursday 350m from the top of the 8 850-metre peak after a fall broken by her safety rope, the Adventures Guide tour company said in a statement.

Her team leader reported that Ota's heart had stopped beating and he later confirmed she had died.

Ota's family urged the remaining five climbers to leave her body which was still hanging by the rope and continue their descent, saying their safety was the top priority.

Japan's Kyodo News Agency said an attempt would be made to recover the body on Friday.

Ota started climbing mountains when she was about 40 and conquered Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain, in 2001, according to Kyodo.