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Maxi Jazz, the lead vocalist of British electronic music band Faithless and known as the voice in trance hits such as “God Is a DJ” and “Insomnia”, has died aged 65, the band said on Saturday.

“He was a man who changed our lives in so many ways. He gave proper meaning and message to our music,” the other two core members of Faithless, Rollo and Sister Bliss, said in a statement on Facebook.

“He was also a lovely human being with time for everyone and a wisdom that was both profound and accessible.”

The band said on Twitter that Jazz had died peacefully in his sleep. It did not give a cause of death.

Jazz was born Maxwell Fraser in Brixton, south London, in 1957. He helped form Faithless in 1995, which then grew into one of the most popular dance bands in Britain and round the world.

“He was the kindest man with such an aura about him. His words and performances touched so many of us,” British DJ MistaJam wrote of Jazz on Twitter.

Faithless’ 1995 song “Insomnia”, which features Jazz rapping about struggling to sleep with the refrain “I can’t get no sleep”, was voted the fifth-greatest dance record of all time by readers of dance music magazine Mixmag in 2013.

The song, which topped the dance charts in many European countries, made Jazz quip in a 2020 interview: “If I had a quid for every time someone’s come up going, ‘I can’t get no sleep’, I’d be living on the space station.”

Faithless said in their statement: “He was a brilliant lyricist, a DJ, a Buddhist, a magnificent stage presence, car lover, endless talker, beautiful person, moral compass and genius.”

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Henry Kaiser, National Science Foundation/Wikimedia Commons

• Many animals can live much longer than their average life expectancies.
• Cockatoos and tortoises have been known to live for 100 years or more, while Greenland sharks can live upwards of 400 years.
• We’ve rounded up some of the world’s oldest animals. 

While humans outlive many other animals, some species put the average human lifespan (about 72 years, according to the World Health Organization) to shame. Giant tortoises, for example, can live more than 100 years, while bowhead whales can reach 200 years of age.

Plus, certain individual animals have blown past the life expectancy of their species, gaining notoriety for the feat. 

Here are 12 of the world’s oldest animals, ranked by age. 

The oldest female gorillas living today are thought to be 65.Fatou eats her birthday cake on her 61 birthday.

Markus Schreiber/AP

Western lowland gorillas are a subspecies native to the Congo Basin, and they are the most widespread of all the subspecies of gorilla. Their lifespan in the wild ranges from 30 to 40 years. In captivity, they can live into their 50s and beyond.

Until her death at age 60 in 2017, Colo, a western lowland gorilla at the Columbus Zoo, was the world’s oldest zoo-born gorilla. Colo’s name, an abbreviation of Columbus, Ohio, was chosen in a contest.

Today, two female gorillas are thought to share the title: Fatou at the Berlin Zoo in Germany and Trudy at the Little Rock, Arkansas Zoo are both estimated to be 65. Ozzy, a male gorilla at the Atlanta, Georgia Zoo was formerly the oldest male and lived until 61. 

The longest-living albatross is at least 71 years old.Wisdom, the world’s oldest known breeding bird with a chick, sits in a nest at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

Bob Peyton/US Fish and Wildlife Service/AP

Albatrosses, whose wings can stretch 11 feet, are able to live 50 years or more. The longest-living albatross in the US — and one of the world’s oldest known wild birds overall — is a Laysan albatross named Wisdom.

Believed to be at least 71 years old, Wisdom has far surpassed her species’ typical lifespan of 12-40 years. She has made the news several times for continuing to lay eggs well into her old age. Wisdom returns annually to a nest site at Midway Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean.

Ambika at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, is thought to be 71 years old, likely making her the oldest living elephant.Asian elephants

AP

Asian elephants can typically live into their mid-50s. However, a few have made it into their 80s. Lin Wang, an Asian elephant at Taipei Zoo in Taiwan, lived to be 86. At the time of his death in 2003, he held the Guinness World Record for being the oldest elephant in captivity.

Dakshayani, an elephant at the Chengalloor Mahadeva Temple in Kerala, India also had a long life. Given the nickname “Gaja Muthassi” (meaning “elephant granny”), she died in 2019 at 88 years of age.

In the US, there are several Asian elephants in their 70s: Shirley, who lives at Tennessee’s Elephant Sanctuary, is 70 years old, while Ambika at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, is 71. It’s worth noting, though, that these ages are often estimated. 

Fred, the world’s oldest cockatoo, is over 100 years old.A cockatoo (which is not Fred) perches on a basket.

AP

Cockatoos are any of 20 bird species that belong to the parrot subfamily Cacatuinae. They generally have a lifespan of 60 years, but some have lived for over a century in captivity.

For instance, Fred, a sulfur-crested cockatoo at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Tasmania, Australia, is now 104.

Another Australian sulfur-crested cockatoo known as “Cocky Bennett” reportedly lived until the age of 120 before he died in 1916. Bennett resided at a hotel.

Cookie, a Major’s Mitchell cockatoo, was also famous for his longevity. He lived to be 83 at Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago, Illinois, and died in 2016.

Jonathan, a giant tortoise born in the Seychelles islands, is 190 years old.Giant tortoises in Seychelles.

Charles Luk/Flickr

Giant tortoises are known for their longevity. One of the best-known examples is Lonesome George, who was the last surviving member of the Pinta Island species. He was believed to be more than 100 years old when he died in 2012.

Jonathan, a giant tortoise born in the Seychelles islands, is still going strong. At 190 years old, he’s been designated the world’s oldest living land animal by Guinness World Records. Since 1882 (50 years after his birth), Jonathan has lived on St. Helena, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Jonathan is also the oldest chelonian ever. (Chelonia is the scientific order that contains turtles, tortoises, and terrapins.)

The tuatara, sometimes referred to as a ‘living fossil,’ lives for upwards of 100 years. One of the oldest members of the species, called Henry, is over 120.Henry the Tuatara is shown at 111 years old resting on the arm of his handler at the Southland Museum at Invercargill, New Zealand, on August 6, 2008.

Dianne Manson/NZPA/AP

Tuataras are descended from an extinct group of reptiles that roamed the Earth alongside the dinosaurs. These scaled creatures are endemic to New Zealand, where they inhabit 32 islands. The creatures can live up to or past 100 years of age.

One of the oldest living tuataras, Henry, is at least 123. He lives at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, where there’s a “Tuatarium” habitat.

Henry and his mate Mildred were still laying eggs together as of 2009, when he was already 111 (though Mildred was thought to be in her 70s).

Bowhead whales can live for over 200 years. One particular bowhead was estimated to be 211.A bowhead whale.

Bering Land Bridge National Preserve/Flickr

With a lifespan that can exceed 200 years, the bowhead whale is the longest-living marine mammal. In addition to its longevity, the species is known for its namesake noggin, which contains the largest mouth of any creature in the animal kingdom.

According to Medical Daily, a group of Iñupiat in Alaska caught a bowhead whale in 2007 that had six ancient harpoons in its flesh. The harpoons dated to the late 1800s, suggesting the whale was about 211 years old at the time it died.

According to a 2016 study, one female Greenland shark was estimated to be 400 years old.A drawing of a Greenland shark from the book “History of the Fishes of the British Islands” published by Jonathan Couch in 1877.

Wikimedia Commons

In the 2016 study, researchers found that, on average, Greenland sharks have a lifespan of about 272 years. Yet the sharks, which are native to the North Atlantic, can live upwards of 400 years, as evidenced by one very old unnamed Greenland shark thought to be 400.

The largest sharks noted in the study measured 493 centimeters (16 feet) and 502 centimeters (16.5 feet) long and had lifespans of 335 and 392 years, respectively. 

A potential secret to the species’ longevity might be its slow growth rate of one centimeter (0.39 inches) per year. In July of 2022, a Greenland shark was found in the unusual seas of Belize. 

 

An ocean quahog clam named Ming lived to be over 500 years old.An ocean quahog clam. (Ming is not pictured.)

Wikimedia Commons/S. Rae

Ocean quahogs, a type of clam, typically live 100 to 200 years. One of these clams, nicknamed Ming, was 507 years old when it was found in 2006 off the coast of Iceland. To calculate Ming’s age, researchers counted the bands in its shell.

Ming happened to be part of a group of 200 clams that were dredged from the ocean and frozen as part of a research project about climate change. 

There’s an ‘immortal’ species of jellyfish that is said to age backward.A jellyfish (not Turritopsis dohrnii) in Antarctica, photographed by Henry Kaiser of the National Science Foundation.

Henry Kaiser, National Science Foundation/Wikimedia Commons

The only thing better than living a long time is finding a way to outwit death. One jellyfish species, Turritopsis dohrnii, is virtually immortal. As the jelly ages, it eventually settles onto the sea floor and becomes a colony of polyps (individual organisms). The polyps then spawn new, genetically identical jellyfish. 

If a Turritopsis dohrnii gets physically harmed or starts to starve, it can transform back into a polyp at will — then in turn produce new, genetically identical jellyfish. 

Some elkhorn coral in Florida and the Caribbean are more than 5,000 years old.Elkhorn coral.

AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

Many of the oldest creatures on the planet live underwater, corals included. A study by researchers at Penn State University in 2016 found that some genotypes of Acropora palmata (elkhorn coral) in Florida and the Caribbean are more than 5,000 years old.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

• With the 2024 presidential election approaching, both parties are eyeing pathways to victory.
• A band of swing states in the Midwest and Sun Belt will be at the top of the list for contenders.
• There’s a distinct possibility that the 2024 race could be a rematch of the 2020 election.

Over the past decade, the road to the White House — once dominated by Florida and Ohio — has evolved.

While bellwethers like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin remain a critical part of the calculus for Democratic and Republican presidential nominees in reaching the 270 electoral vote-threshold for victory, the Sun Belt region has also grown in importance for would-be contenders.

With President Joe Biden eyeing a 2024 campaign and former President Donald Trump having already launched his third White House campaign, the possibility of a rematch of the 2020 election remains high.

But regardless of the eventual presidential nominees, both parties will be targeting a narrow band of six swing states to capture the White House: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Democrats — fresh off a midterm election cycle where they defied conventional political wisdom by retaining their Senate majority and minimizing major losses in the House despite losing control of the lower chamber — are increasingly hopeful that they can reelect Biden if he chooses to run for president again.

And Republicans, who will have a razor-thin House majority in January, believe Biden will be a liability for Democrats. However, the GOP must contend with the toxicity of Trump’s political brand in the major battleground states, whose voters overwhelmingly rejected the former president’s endorsed statewide candidates in the midterms.

Still, the GOP approaches 2024 on firm ground in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis — a potential presidential contender — was reelected in a landslide in November, as well as Ohio, which elected JD Vance to the Senate despite Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan’s strong campaign.

Then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks at the Carpenters Local Union 1912 in Phoenix, Ariz., on October 8, 2020.

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File

Arizona

2012 margin: Romney +9.0%

2016 margin: Trump +3.5%

2020 margin: Biden +0.3%

Between 1952 and 2016, Arizona backed the Republican presidential nominee in every election except for 1996 — when then-President Bill Clinton won the state over former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole by a little over 2 points.

Long associated with Barry Goldwater, the conservative political icon who was the Republican presidential nominee in 1964, the Grand Canyon State for decades had a decidedly red lean in federal races.

But as the population of Arizona has swelled, its political orientation has also shifted.

In 2012, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney easily won the state over then-President Barack Obama, but former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton whittled the GOP margin of victory down to just under 4 points in 2016.

Biden, buoyed by gains among the state’s burgeoning Latino population, narrowly won the state over Trump in 2020 by a little under 11,000 votes out of nearly 3.4 million ballots.

And Democrats feel encouraged by their performance in Arizona in the November midterms.

Not only did Secretary of State Katie Hobbs defeat MAGA-infused Kari Lake in the gubernatorial race, but Sen. Mark Kelly won a full six-year term over Republican Blake Masters and Adrian Fontes was elected to succeed Hobbs over state Rep. Mark Finchem, who repeatedly questioned the 2020 presidential election results.

Former President Donald Trump watches election returns and speaks with guests at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., on November 8, 2022.

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Georgia

2012 margin: Romney +7.8%

2016 margin: Trump +5.1%

2020 margin: Biden +0.2%

For decades, Republicans could easily depend on the Peach State’s electoral votes falling into their column. No more.

While GOP politicians were enjoying double-digit wins in statewide races, former Democratic state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams — who saw the possibility of a more politically-competitive Georgia — worked behind the scenes to build a turnout organization that could rival that of the Republican Party.

In 2018, Abrams came within 55,000 votes of winning that year’s gubernatorial election.

Two years later, Biden won the state by roughly 12,000 votes over Trump, followed by the dual 2021 runoff victories of Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff over Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively.

The exponential growth of the Atlanta suburbs, driven by new Black, Asian, and Latino residents, has given the state a purple veneer — but this year also showed the limitations of Democratic gains.

Warnock won a full six-year term in a December runoff after fending off a challenge from Republican Herschel Walker, becoming the only Democrat to win statewide in the midterms. But Walker, aided by robust support in the state’s rural counties, still won 48.6% of the vote in the runoff, despite a candidacy that some Republicans saw as deeply flawed.

And Republicans were victorious in every other statewide election, led by Gov. Brian Kemp, who defeated Abrams in a rematch of their 2018 contest by nearly 300,000 votes.

Translation: Georgia will continue to be on everyone’s mind in 2024.

The phrase “Count Every Vote” is displayed outside the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on November 6, 2020.

AP Photo/David Goldman, File

Michigan

2012 margin: Obama +9.5%

2016 margin: Trump +0.2%

2020 margin: Biden +2.8%

Michigan has long been a critical part of the electoral calculus for Democrats, as they carried the state in every presidential race from 1992 to 2012 by appealing to voters in Detroit and its middle- and upper-middle-class suburbs, while also enjoying support among union households and moderates in the exurban and rural stretches of the state.

But the party was stunned by Trump’s narrow 2016 win in the longtime blue state, as the Republican made significant inroads with the base of white working-class voters who had been slowly drifting away from Democrats cycle after cycle.

In 2020, the party put a premium on flipping the Wolverine State back into their column, which Biden was able to do, winning by nearly 3 points over Trump.

And in November, Democrats in the state boasted some of their party’s most impressive victories in the entire country.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won reelection by nearly 11 points, while state Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson easily won their races. The party also flipped control of both houses of the Michigan legislature, and a referendum enshrining reproductive rights into the state Constitution was approved by voters.

Still, despite the Democratic wins, the state’s 15 electoral votes will be a sought-after prize for both parties in 2024.

Then-Nevada GOP gubernatorial nominee Joe Lombardo, right, campaigns with former President Donald Trump at a rally in Minden, Nev., on October 8, 2022.

AP Photo/José Luis Villegas, Pool

Nevada

2012 margin: Obama +6.7%

2016 margin: Clinton +2.4%

2020 margin: Biden +2.4%

Democrats have been victorious on the presidential level in the Silver State since 2008, when Obama won by nearly 13 points, followed by his victory of nearly 7 points in 2012.

But Clinton and Biden both won the state by a little over 2 points, as Republicans have seen the fast-growing Western state as one that can be flipped into their column, especially if they can make inroads in Democratic-heavy Clark County.

In November, Republicans got a huge boost in the state when their gubernatorial nominee, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, defeated incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak.

But Democrats also notched a major win by reelecting Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto to a second term over former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who had been strongly backed by Trump. And after state Democrats approved congressional maps that some in the party saw as especially risky in a GOP wave year, all three of the party’s House incumbents — Dina Titus, Steven Horsford, and Susie Lee — won their respective races.

The ticket-splitting in the midterms once again showed that Nevada will be hot target for both parties in 2024.

President Joe Biden, right, and former President Barack Obama, center left, take part in a campaign rally for then-Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro, center right, and then-Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman in Philadelphia, Pa., on November 5, 2022.

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Pennsylvania

2012 margin: Obama +5.4%

2016 margin: Trump +0.7%

2020 margin: Biden +1.2%

Biden’s hometown of Scranton is dear to his heart so Pennsylvania was always going to be a key state for the party in 2024.

Democrats carried Pennsylvania in every presidential race from 1992 to 2012, until Trump narrowly edged out Clinton in 2016, gaining support among the white working-class voters who populate the exurban and rural communities across the state.

But Biden clawed back in 2020, boosted by strong returns in Philadelphia and its affluent suburbs, as well as a robust vote in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh.

And in 2022, Democrats had a huge year in the state, electing Lt. Gov. John Fetterman to the Senate to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, while also electing state Attorney General Josh Shapiro in a landslide to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

Democrats are set to control the state House of Representatives after a series of three special elections in 2023, but a legal dispute with state Republicans could prolong the party’s claim of a majority for the next few months.

Despite the GOP losses, the party — keen on winning back suburban voters and boosting their margins in the state’s rural outposts — will again make a major play for Pennsylvania in 2024.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers addresses a joint session of the Legislature in the Assembly chambers at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., on February 15, 2022.

AP Photo/Andy Manis, File

Wisconsin

2012 margin: Obama +6.9%

2016 margin: Trump +0.8%

2020 margin: Biden +0.6%

Wisconsin is one of the most politically-divided states in the country.

Democratic presidential nominees Al Gore and John Kerry eked out statewide wins in 2000 and 2004, respectively, and Obama won the state easily in 2008 and 2012.

But Trump flipped Wisconsin to the GOP in 2016, the first time it had supported a Republican presidential nominee since 1984.

Democrats, stunned by the loss, regrouped and elected Tony Evers as governor in 2018 — knocking out onetime GOP star Scott Walker — while also reelecting Sen. Tammy Baldwin to a second term.

Biden went on to narrowly win the state over Trump in 2020.

And in November 2022, Evers was reelected to a second term over Republican businessman Tim Michels, while GOP Sen. Ron Johnson narrowly defeated Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes to earn a third term in the upper chamber.

Both parties are eyeing the Badger State in 2024 in what will surely be another competitive race on the presidential level.

During the working day, Ukraine’s Air Power launched a few strikes on the enemy staff, weapons, and army machines clusters. In convert, missile and artillery units hit two Russian manpower clusters and S-300 missile method.

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Clashes broke out for a second day in Paris on Saturday between police and Kurdish protestors angry at the killing of three members of their community.

Cars were overturned, at least one vehicle was burned, shop windows were damaged and small fires set alight near Republic Square, a traditional venue for demonstrations where Kurds earlier held a peaceful protest.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said there had been a sudden violent turn in the protest but it was not yet clear why.

Speaking on news channel BFM TV, Nunez said a few dozen protestors were responsible for the violence, adding there had been 11 arrests and around 30 minor injuries.

As some demonstrators left the square they threw projectiles at police who responded with tear gas. Skirmishes continued for around two hours before the protestors dispersed.

A gunman carried out the killings at a Kurdish cultural centre and nearby cafe on Friday in a busy part of Paris’ 10th district, stunning a community preparing to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the unresolved murder of three activists.

Police arrested a 69-year-old man who the authorities said had recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial for a sabre attack on a migrant camp in Paris a year ago.

Following questioning of the suspect, investigators had added a suspected racist motive to initial accusations of murder and violence with weapons, the prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.

After a gathering on Friday afternoon that had also led to clashes with police, the Kurdish democratic council in France (CDK-F) organised the demonstration at Republic Square on Saturday.

Hundreds of Kurdish protestors, joined by politicians including the mayor of Paris’ 10th district, waved flags and listened to tributes to the victims.

“We are not being protected at all. In 10 years, six Kurdish activists have been killed in the heart of Paris in broad daylight,” Berivan Firat, a spokesperson for the CDK-F, told BFM TV at the demonstration.

She said the event had soured after some protestors were provoked by people making pro-Turkish gestures in a passing vehicle.

Friday’s murders came ahead of the anniversary of the killings of three Kurdish women in Paris in January 2013.

An investigation was dropped after the main suspect died shortly before coming to trial, before being re-opened in 2019.

Kurdish representatives, who met on Saturday with Nunez as well as French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti, reiterated their call for Friday’s shooting to be considered a terror attack.

The questioning of the suspect was continuing, the prosecutor’s office said.

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NASA

• “Earthrise” is the first image of Earth captured by humans from space. 
• The photo of Earth was taken aboard Apollo 8 on December 24, 1968, by lunar module pilot Bill Anders.
• The image highlighted Earth’s fragility, since it was seen against the vast blackness of space.

On December 24, 1968 — exactly 54 years ago — Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders became the first humans to circle the moon.

The mission was historic, but equally memorable was the famous “Earthrise” photo that resulted, showing Earth rising above the lunar landscape.

Until that point, no human eyes had ever seen our blue marble from so far away.

In Life Magazine’s “100 Photographs That Changed the World,” acclaimed wilderness photographer Galen Rowell described the unprecedented view of Earth as “the most influential environmental photograph ever taken.”

The image of our planet, which appeared small and vulnerable suspended in the blackness of space, made people more aware of its fragility.

“Earthrise” is now one of the most reproduced space photos of all time, appearing on US postage stamps, posters, and the cover of Time magazine in 1969. Many have pointed out the irony of the photo, since Apollo 8 was sent to study and take pictures of the moon’s surface — not Earth.

“Of all the objectives NASA had set before launch, no one had thought of photographing the Earth from lunar orbit,” Robert Zimmerman wrote in his book “Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8: the First Manned Flight to Another World.”

The famous photo was taken during the mission’s fourth pass around the moon, at which point the spacecraft had changed its orbit, making it possible to see the Earth above the lunar horizon. 

From left to right: Apollo 8 crew James A. Lovell Jr., William A. Anders, and Frank Borman, are photographed in their space suits at the Kennedy Space Center simulator.

NASA

None of the astronauts were prepared for the moment, including lunar module pilot Anders, who had been put in charge of photography.

In an interview for a BBC documentary in 2012, Anders described the sequence of events: “I don’t know who said it, maybe all of us said, ‘Oh my God. Look at that!’ and up came the Earth. We had had no discussion on the ground, no briefing, no instructions on what to do. I jokingly said, ‘well, it’s not on the flight plan,’ and the other two guys were yelling at me to give them cameras. I had the only color camera with a long lens. So I floated a black and white over to Borman. I can’t remember what Lovell got. There were all yelling for cameras, and we started snapping away.”

Initially, both Borman and Anders claimed responsibility for the now-famous picture. An investigation of transcripts later revealed that Borman, who was the first to recognize the importance of the moment, took a black-and-white photo before Anders snapped the iconic color photograph.

Fred Spier, a senior lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, wrote in his article “The Elusive Apollo 8 Earthrise Photo” that Borman and Lovell each played a crucial part in prompting Anders, who had the only color camera, to take the shot.

“Experienced astronaut Frank Borman was the first to the importance of the picture, while equally experienced astronaut James Lovell was quick to follow,” Spier writes. “Space rookie William Anders, however, was in charge of taking the photos. In doing so, Anders had to follow a rather tight and well-defined photo plan, in which there was little or no room for unplanned snapshots.”

Spier continued: “Anders first offered some resistance and then quickly did what the other told him to do. Although it now seems beyond doubt that Anders actually snapped the famous picture, it also seems fair to say the picture came as a result of the combined efforts of all three astronauts.”

PEMBA DORJE SHERPA/AFP via Getty

• More than 300 people have died climbing Everest since exploration first started in the early 1900s. 
• It’s dangerous to retrieve the bodies, so many litter the mountain to this day. 
• Many have blamed overcrowding for a surge in deaths in recent years. 

Dead bodies are a common sight on top of Mount Everest. 

“I cannot believe what I saw up there,” Everest filmmaker Elia Saikaly wrote on Instagram in May 2019. “Death. Carnage. Chaos. Lineups. Dead bodies on the route.” 

Eleven people died climbing Mount Everest that spring, in what became the peak’s deadliest climbing sprint in recent memory. In 2015, an avalanche roared through Everest, killing at least 19 people. Three died climbing the mountain during the climbing season last spring. 

When people die on Everest, it can be difficult to remove their bodies. Final repatriation costs tens of thousands of dollars (in some cases, around $70,000) and can also come at a fatal price itself: two Nepalese climbers died trying to recover a body from Everest in 1984. Instead, bodies are often left lying on the mountain.

Lhakpa Sherpa, who is the women’s record-holder for most Everest summits, said she saw seven dead bodies on her way to the top of the mountain in 2018.

“Only near the top,” she told Business Insider, remembering one man’s body in particular that “looked alive, because the wind was blowing his hair.”

Her memory is a grim reminder that removing dead bodies from Mount Everest is a pricey and potentially deadly chore, and one that is perhaps best left undone. 

Climbers descend from the summit of Everest down the Hillary Step and across the cornice traverse to the south summit in Nepal on May 23, 2019. Twenty-nineteen was one of the deadliest years in Everest in recent memory, with 11 deaths.

Climbing the Seven Summits/@TENDIGUIDE/via Reuters

Everest is crowded with tourists 

It’s impossible to know for sure exactly where all of the 306 recorded Everest fatalities have ended up, but it’s safe to say that many dead bodies never make it off the mountain. For years, Everest climbers have spoken of a dead man they call “Green Boots” who some have spotted lying in a cave roughly 1,130 feet from the top.

Some hikers are blaming the surge in deaths, in part, on preventable overcrowding.

As May temperatures warm and winds stall, the favorable springtime Everest climbing conditions are notorious for creating conveyor-belt style lines that snake towards the top of the mountain. Climbers can be so eager to reach the peak and stake their claim on an Everest summit that they’ll risk their lives just to make it happen, even when others caution them to stay back.

Mountaineers line up as they make their way up a slope on Mount Everest on May 31, 2021.

LAKPA SHERPA/AFP via Getty Images

Other Everest climbers complain about risky human traffic jams in the mountain’s so-called “death zone,” the area of the hike that reaches above 8,000 meters (about 26,250 feet), where air is dangerously thin and most people use oxygen masks to stay safe.

Even with masks, this zone is not a great place to hang out for too long, and it’s a spot where some deliriously loopy trekkers start removing desperately-needed clothes, and talking to imaginary companions, despite the freezing conditions.

Often, these tourists have spent anywhere from $25,000 to $75,000 to complete this once-in-a-lifetime trek.

Nepali climbers pose for photographs after collecting waste from Mount Everest at Namche Bazar, on May 27, 2019, before it is transported to Kathmandu to be recycled.

Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images

Removing bodies is dangerous and costs thousands of dollars

Getting bodies out of the death zone is a hazardous chore. 

“It’s expensive and it’s risky, and it’s incredibly dangerous for the Sherpas,” Everest climber Alan Arnette previously told the CBC. “What they have to do is reach the body, then they typically put it in some type of a rigging, sometimes a sled but often it’s just a piece of fabric. They tie ropes onto that, and then they do a controlled slip of the body in the sled.”

Arnette said he didn’t want his body to go that way, and he signed some grim “body disposal” forms before he climbed Everest, ordering that his corpse should rest in place on the mountain in case he died during the trek.

“Typically you have your spouse sign this, so think about that conversation,” he added. “You say leave me on the mountain, or get me back to Kathmandu and cremate, or try to get me back to my home country.” 

Pemba Dorjee Sherpa, who has climbed up Everest 20 times, at camp three on the mountain in Nepal, May 20, 2019.

Reuters/Phurba Tenjing Sherpa

“There’s sort of this idea that there’s only one mountain that really matters in the kind of Western, popular imagination,” filmmaker and director Jennifer Peedom told Business Insider when her documentary, “Mountain” was released.

Peedom has climbed Everest herself four times, but says the thrill of summiting Everest is largely relegated to the history books, and for “true mountaineers,” it’s basically just an exercise in crowd control these days. 

“There seems to be a disaster mystique around Everest that seems to only serve to heighten the allure of the place,” she said. “It is extremely overcrowded now and just getting more and more every year.”