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Two Everest Climbers Dead, Another Missing, As Colorado Men Continue Toward Summit

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP/CBS4) - An American climber has died near the summit of Mount Everest and an Indian climber is missing after heading down from the mountain following a successful ascent, expedition organizers said Sunday.

The New York Times is reporting a third climber, Vladimir Strba, from Slovakia, who was part of a separate expedition, also died. Mr. Strba, 48, died at a camp at an elevation of about 8,000 meters (26,247 feet), according to an official with the Nepal Department of Tourism.

This, as four men from Colorado make their way up Everest in two different groups.

Jim Davidson's latest Facebook post indicates his expedition is above 26,000 feet and in its final push to the summit. Davidson is from Ft Collins.

Chris Bombardier of Denver and Ryan Waters of Boulder (Bombardier's guide) are also nearing the top, about five hours behind Davidson. Bombardier reportedly will be the first hemophiliac to summit the mountain.

Mike Haugen of Denver is waiting at 21,000 feet to make his trip up the world's highest peak. Haugen is a teacher at Eaglecrest High School. He summited Everest 10 years ago, according to Cindy Haugen.

Everest rises to 29,035 feet above sea level.

Roland Yearwood, 50, from Georgiana, Alabama, died on the mountain on Sunday, said Murari Sharma of the Everest Parivar Expedition agency, based in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital.

A Facebook post by Everest Base Camp attributed Yearwood's death to severe altitude sickness.

Indian climber Ravi Kamar fell sick on his way down from the summit on Saturday and did not make it to the nearest camp, while his accompanying Nepalese Sherpa guide made it to a camp, said Thupden Sherpa of Arun Treks and Expedition.

The guide also fell sick, but he was able to drag himself to the last camp at South Col, located at 8,000 meters, Sherpa said, adding that the guide had frostbite and was hooked to oxygen bottles.

A rescue team of three Sherpas flew by helicopter to Camp 2, from where they were climbing up the mountain to help search for the missing climber.

Kamar and his guide reached the 8,850-meter-high (29,035-foot-high) summit on Saturday at around 1:30 p.m., which is considered late, and not many climbers were around when they were returning back, Sherpa said.

Yearwood is the third climber to die on Everest during the current spring climbing season, which began in March and runs through this month. Ueli Steck, 40, a renowned mountain climber nicknamed the Swiss Machine, and Min Bahadur Sherchan, 85, a Nepalese mountaineer, also perished.

According to the Himalayan Times, Yearwood was one of the survivors on the mountain in 2015 when a devastating earthquake struck Nepal killing nearly 9, 000 people.

Colorado's Davidson, who has 30 years of climbing experience, was also on Everest in 2015 when the earthquake struck. That quake triggered an avalanche on Everest that killed at least 22 people. Davidson was above the affected area at the time.

This trip marks his first return to the mountain since then.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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