A Swiss hiker has died on Mount Fuji, local authorities said, bringing to two the number of deaths since the start of the climbing season on this iconic Japanese mountain where an injured 99-year-old Japanese woman was rescued.
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Police told AFP that the 58-year-old hiker died Tuesday after losing consciousness while climbing the 3,776-meter volcano. He was resuscitated and transported to a hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
According to media reports, his name was Bernhard Sutter. The head of the Swiss company he worked for, Exit, which specialized in assisted dying, said he died following a medical emergency while on vacation in Japan.
This is the second death since the opening of the Fuji climbing season on July 1, after that of a 65-year-old Japanese man on July 17, fatally injured in the head following a fall, according to local media.
Media also reported that a 99-year-old Japanese woman, Tome Sagawa, was rescued the same day while trying to climb the mountain after being injured the day before and spending the night in a shelter.
“Police are calling on hikers to descend without force if they are worried about the weather conditions or their physical condition, and to plan ascents adapted to their experience and physical condition,” said a spokesperson for the police.
A few days earlier, a 54-year-old Japanese man had to be rescued twice in the space of two days while attempting the ascent.
Having felt unwell, he was taken back to the foot of the mountain by rescuers, but decided to try again the next day before feeling unwell again.
The same mishap happened, in 2025, to a Chinese man who climbed Fuji outside the official season, as several thousand people do every year.
Japan’s highest mountain has become a popular goal for hikers, some of whom lack the stamina for the five to 10 hours of walking required to get up and back down.
Japan has tightened access rules to Mount Fuji in response to overtourism, overcrowding and a series of security incidents involving insufficiently equipped climbers.
In 2024, the departments of Yamanashi and Shizuoka, which the volcano straddles, established a right of access.
Just over 200,000 people nevertheless climbed the mountain last year, compared to just over 220,000 in 2023.
Nine deaths were recorded during the 2024 season, but none in 2025.
