Mount Everest sherpas: Facts and figures

• The cost of climbing Everest dropped this year to as low as £6,500
• Sherpas' insurance compensation was doubled to £6,000 at the start of 2014
• Nepal's government said it would pay families of sherpas killed on Friday £247 to cover funeral costs, before today announcing an improved package

• Sherpas make around £4,000 a year
• The average annual income in Nepal is just over £400
• Before Friday's deadly avalanche, the single deadliest accident was in 1996, when eight people died
• The summit of Mount Everest is 8,850 metres and takes 12 hours to climb

• There are an estimated 100,000 sherpas in Nepal, according to the Royal Embassy of Nepal
• More than 800 people attempted to scale Mount Everest last year, according to the Nepal Tourism Ministry’s mountaineering department.

More: Everest sherpas abandon climbing season after 16 colleagues are killed