Nepal’s tourism authority has denied accusations that the rise in Mount Everest deaths is solely due to overcrowding.
The department’s director general Dandu Raj Ghimire said other factors including adverse weather conditions had also contributed.
Ten climbers have been reported dead or missing this season.
Photos of long queues near the summit have been widely shared as record numbers ascended the mountain in May.
Ghimire said 381 people had ascended Everest this spring but as periods of fine weather had been short, the number of people on the routes had been “higher than expected”.
In his statement, Ghimire put the current death toll at eight, although 10 people have been reported dead or missing so far.
Briton Robin Haynes Fisher, 44, died on Saturday minutes after reaching Everest’s summit.
Kevin Hynes, 56, from Ireland, died in his tent on Friday and Séamus Lawless, also Irish, is presumed dead after falling near the summit.
One Nepalese, four Indians, an Austrian and an American are also dead or missing.
