Everest queues: Limit numbers

Shocking photographs have emerged of queues of climbers on Mount Everest. One shows more than 100 people bunched together on the narrow ridge that leads to the summit — a place so high and with air so thin that it is known as the “death zone”, where the human body struggles to function.

At least 10 people died on the mountain this year, the deadliest climbing season in four years. Most succumbed to exhaustion, exacerbated because a crowded route to and from the summit has led to delays.