A young Sherpa climber has lost his life after a fatal fall below Camp III on Mt Everest (8,848.86 m), raising this season’s death toll on the world’s highest mountain to three.

Phura Gyaljen Sherpa, 20, from Thame in Solukhumbu, was carrying loads above the Lhotse Face on Monday night as teams prepared routes and supplies for the coming summit wave, according to expedition sources.

The accident reportedly occurred at around 11:20 p.m. near 7,000 metres, when he slipped from a narrow section below Camp III and plunged roughly 400 metres into a crevasse between Camps II and III.

Other Sherpas and climbing guides later reached the site and brought him out of the crevasse. Officials said he had sustained critical injuries to his head and body and could not be saved.

Phura Gyaljen belonged to one of the Khumbu region’s most respected mountaineering families. He was the grandson of the legendary Ang Rita Sherpa — the “Snow Leopard” — who climbed Everest ten times without supplementary oxygen and remains the only climber to summit Everest in winter without bottled oxygen.

Earlier this season, Bijay Ghimire Bishwakarma, a Nepali mountaineer, died in the Khumbu Icefall, while another climber Lakpa Dendi Sherpa passed away at around 5,200 metres while trekking toward Everest Base Camp.