American Doctor, 50, Dies While Trying to Climb Mount Everest

An American physician died over the weekend while attempting to summit Earth's highest peak.

Dr. Roland Yearwood was nearing the peak of Mount Everest when he died Sunday in the so-called "death zone" where air becomes perilously thin.

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The father and husband from Alabama was one of three mountaineers who died over the weekend on the mountain, which straddles Nepal's border with Tibet.

"We have confirmation of his death but no other details are known," Murari Sharma of the Everest Parivas trekking company told Reuters. 

Yearwood was part of a 16-member team led by American climber Dan Mazur and sponsored by Everest Parivas. 

According to reports, the physician was on Everest for a second time when he died. The first time, Yearwood managed to skirt tragedy when he lived through an avalanche that killed 18 there in 2015.

It is not clear if Yearwood fulfilled his dream of reaching the Everest summit before he died.

"It is also unclear if he was on his way up or down from the summit," Sharma said.

According to Yearwood's profile on the Georgiana Medical Center website, the doctor train in New York and London before settling down in Alabama.

Yearwood left behind two college aged daughters and a wife, who is also a doctor.

"During his spare time he likes to sail, dive and fly and is in the process of climbing the tallest summit on the 7 continents," the profile still reads, "and is scheduled to climb Everest next spring."

Slovak mountaineer Vladimir Strba, 50, also reportedly died on Sunday. Both Strba and Yearwood were on the Nepal side of Everest.

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A day earlier, a 54-year-old Australian climber died from altitude sickness on the Tibet side. 

On Saturday, 26-year-old Indian climber Ravi Kumar went missing in the same area after becoming separated from his group during their descent.

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