A Mount Qomolangma skydive team member leaps from an aircraft. [AFP]

Three skydivers, including a New Zealander, have made the first-ever parachute jump over Mount Qomolangma after years of preparation, Radio New Zealand reported on Sunday.

About 32 skydivers from more than 10 countries have been in the region since last week to jump from an aircraft flying 142 meters higher than the Qomolangma summit.

On Sunday, New Zealander Wendy Smith and two others made the leap. All three were in freefall for nearly half a minute and then opened their canopies before landing at a flat drop zone after cruising over the mountain.

They used parachutes that were larger than normal size and all three wore oxygen masks.

New Zealand's Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa from Nepal first climbed Mount Qomolangma's 8,844.43-meter peak 55 years ago.

More than 3,000 climbers, including a 16-year-old boy, a 76-year-old man, a man with an artificial limb and a blind person, have since reached the top of the world's highest mountain.

A Mount Qomolangma skydive team member prepares to land. [AFP]

(Xinhua News Agency October 6, 2008)