Mt Everest’s height increased to 8,848.86 meters, says Nepal

New Delhi : The new height of world's highest peak – Mount Everest - is 8,848.86 meters, said Nepal and China in a joint conference, ending a longtime debate on the actual height of the mountain.

The new height is 86 cm - a little less than 3 feet - more than the previous measurement, the country’s foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali said at a briefing on Tuesday.

The new height of the mountain has been announced simultaneously by Nepal’s foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Kathmandu and Beijing, according to the Kathmandu Post.

"This is a historic day," Foreign Minister Gyawali said, while making the much-awaited announcement on Tuesday.

Nepal has been measuring the height of the peak since 2011.

The official Everest snow height of 8,848 meters (29,028 feet) was measured by the Survey of India in 1954.

(Image)