Bizarre publicity stunt leaves Everest guide dead

A stunt by Ukrainian social network ASKfm has gone horribly wrong. Photo/Daily Mail.

A publicity stunt which saw four bitcoin fans bury $50,000 in cryptocurrency on Mount Everest has ended in tragedy with the mysterious death of their Sherpa guide.

Ukranian social network ASKfm paid for the men to climb Everest last week, but they claimed to have lost experienced guide Lam Babu during the ascent, saying he went "missing".

However, other veteran mountaineers have come forward to cast doubt on that version of events, claiming that the Sherpa was struck by snow blindness and "left behind" by the climbers.

One mountaineer, Alan Arnette, a Colorado blogger who covers Everest, cast serious doubt on the claims of the 'crypto-enthusiasts'.

"I find it hard to understand how the 45-year-old Sherpa developed snow blindness, was reported to be staggering and no one was able to help him," Arnette wrote.

On his Facebook, one of the climbers - Taras Podzdnii - failed to say what happened to the Babu when detailing how he injured his hand, which was seen with a bandage.

Details regarding the missing guide have been difficult to find. Photo/Daily Mail.

The Financial Times reached out to Podznii to try to figure out what happened to Sherpa, but he claimed to not have known.

"He [the Sherpa] was behind us, so we don't know what happened to him. We were going fast and the Sherpa wasn't coming with us. He was coming behind, so we didn't see him,' he shared.

ASKfm also claims to not have known what happened to Sherpa.

AskFM has not been given further updates on the whereabouts of the missing guide. Photo/Daily Mail.

"The last update … about the missing Sherpa was that other Sherpas went to look for him," said Max Tsaryk, ASKfm's CEO.

"We don't know what happened next, as this was the last official update we received."

- Daily Mail