Photos show climbers attempting to scale Mount Everest despite increasing challenges

Hundreds of climbers are attempting to scale Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, despite an unstable ice block dangerously hanging over the key trail, high travel costs and increased permit fees.

Around 492 climbers and an equal number of Nepali climbing guides are gearing up for the ascent to the nearly 8,850-meter (around 29,000-foot) high peak this month during the much anticipated window of good weather on the mountain.

Climbers began gathering in April at the base camp, which is at an altitude of 5,300 meters (17,340 feet.) But for more than two weeks a massive and unstable block of ice, or serac, stalled them from moving further up the peak.

The serac is part of the Khumbu Icefall, a constantly shifting glacier with deep crevasses and huge pieces of overhanging ice that can be as big as a 10-story building. The section is considered one of the most difficult and trickiest to climb.

Ang Tshering Sherpa, a mountaineering expert in Nepal, said there are a good number of climbers on Mount Everest this season despite the Iran war and increased travel costs. The number of climbers from the U.S. and European countries has decreased, but there has been a rise in the number of Asian climbers.

Mount Everest straddles the Nepal-China border, although China has closed its route this year, leaving climbers to make their attempts from Nepal on the south side.

A trail of mountaineers' headlamps is visible from Everest Base Camp as climbers ascend toward the summit of Mount Everest, Nepal, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers' tents are pitched at the base camp before their ascent of Mount Everest, Nepal, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers ascend Khumbu Icefall on their way to the summit of Mount Everest, Nepal, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Guides and mountaineers stand outside their tents during acclimatization period before attempting the Mount Everest ascent at the base camp, Nepal, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers participate in a training session at the Khumbu Icefall as they prepare for their ascent to the summit of Mount Everest, Nepal, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers ascend from Lhotse Face to Camp 1 on their way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Snow covers tents during a period of inclement weather at the Everest Base Camp, Nepal, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers participate in a training session at the Khumbu Icefall as they prepare for their ascent to the summit of Mount Everest, Nepal, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Snow covers tents during a period of inclement weather at the Everest Base Camp, Nepal, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers ascend Khumbu Icefall on their way to the summit of Mount Everest in Kathmandu, Nepal, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers' and guides' tents are spread over at the base camp of Mount Everest, Nepal, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Prayers flags furl over the guides' and mountaineers' tents at the base camp of the Mount Everest, Nepal, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers participate in a training session at the Khumbu Icefall as they prepare for their ascent to the summit of Mount Everest, Nepal, Sunday, May 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mount Everest is seen, center left, from base camp in Nepal, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A French woman evacuated from a cruise ship has tested positive for hantavirus and her health worsened in the hospital overnight, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said Monday.

The woman was among five French passengers repatriated Sunday to Paris from the MV Hondius. She developed symptoms on the flight to Paris, Rist told public broadcaster France-Inter.

One the 17 American passengers evacuated from the ship and flown to Nebraska also tested positive for the hantavirus but is not showing any symptoms, and another had mild symptoms, U.S. health officials said late Sunday. The flight landed in the early hours of Monday morning.

The Americans would first be taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a federally funded quarantine facility, to assess whether they have been in close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.

The medical school also has a special unit for treating people with highly infectious diseases that was used early in the pandemic for COVID-19 patients and previously for Ebola patients.

Passengers from the ship began flying home aboard military and government planes Sunday after the vessel anchored in the Canary Islands. Personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks had escorted the travelers from ship to shore in Tenerife in an effort that was continuing Monday.

The World Health Organization recommended close monitoring of the former passengers, and many countries quarantined them.

Earlier, officials from the Spanish Health Ministry, the World Health Organization and the cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions had said none of the more than 140 people who were then on the Hondius had shown symptoms of the virus.

All of the passengers were escorted Sunday from the ship to shore by personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks. The planes arriving in Tenerife were to fly out passengers from more than 20 countries in an evacuation effort that was running into Monday.

Three people have died since the outbreak began, and five people who left the ship earlier were infected.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stressed that the general public should not be worried about the outbreak. “This is not another COVID. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic," he said Sunday.

Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

WHO is recommending that passengers’ home countries “have active monitoring and follow-up, which means daily health checks, either at home or in a specialized facility,” said Maria van Kerkhove, the organization’s top epidemiologist.

Numerous countries have said their people will be quarantined or hospitalized for observation.

Nebraska Medicine's Davis Global Center is seen on Sunday, May 10,2026 in Omaha, Neb. where American passengers from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship will quarantine. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)

Passengers leave a plane at Manchester Airport, after being repatriated to the United Kingdom from the MV Hondius cruise ship, which was hit by hantavirus, Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Manchester, England. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Passengers are sprayed with disinfectant by Spanish government officials before boarding a plane after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Arturo Rodriguez)

Ambulances carrying patients evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship with suspected hantavirus infection, leave the Bourget airport, north of Paris, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A plane carrying patients evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship with suspected hantavirus infection, lands at the Bourget airport, north of Paris, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)