Has the mystery of the missing Everest climbers finally been solved? New book claims George Mallory and Andrew Irvine had problems with their oxygen tanks during 1924 mission - and the organisers covered it up to avoid blame

The Everest climbers who disappeared on a mission 100 years ago had problems with their oxygen tanks, a new book has claimed.

George Mallory, 37, and Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine, 22, went missing during their 1924 expedition to climb the world's tallest mountain. 

Mallory's body was discovered 2,000 feet from the summit in 1999, but the body of his climbing partner has not been found.

Mick Conefrey, in his upcoming book Fallen, George Mallory: the Man, the Myth and the 1924 Everest Tragedy, has claimed that the two mountaineers endured problems with their oxygen tanks during their mission.

The author also alleged that British organisers were aware Mallory and Irvine's oxygen kits did not work properly, The Times reported.

The book, set to be released on May 2, details documents that allegedly reveal how the Everest committee clumsily carried out preparations for the climb and then and kept the situation out of the public discourse to avoid being blamed for the tragedy.

According to Conefrey, the Mount Everest committee spent the modern-day equivalent of £50,000 on oxygen equipment for Mallory and Irvine's expedition.

But the author, is his book, reportedly claims that every one of the 11 sets of apparatus to be carried by climbers was faulty and that 38 out of 90 cylinders had leaked badly.

The organisers also sacked Australian climber George Finch, who had achieved an altitude record using oxygen on an Everest expedition in 1922, despite him being the person most likely to make the oxygen apparatus work.

They also tasked Noel Odell, who was away in Iran, and Irvine, then only 21, with liaising with the manufacturers of the oxygen cylinders.

Irvine, who was not taken seriously by the manufacturing company, allegedly brought the wrong spare parts along because he as provided inaccurate information from the manufacturer.

In addition to alleged failures during preparations, Conefrey has claimed that the tanks were 'so unreliable' that Mallory did not use gas on a previous Everest attempt during the same expedition.

Gordon Robbins, a journalist who worked for The Times at the time of the expedition, had requested a copy of a report that allegedly detailed how the oxygen bottles had leaked on the way to the foot of the mountain.

The committee reportedly let Robbins see the report, but stated the document was 'strictly private and confidential and not for publication'.

Expedition member Bentley Beetham who reportedly requested a copy of a report on the operation of the oxygen apparatus once he returned to Britain.

But he was met with similar restrictions and allegedly told: 'This memorandum must be considered as confidential and no quotations may be made from it nor should any statements be made publicly tending to criticise it in any way, because that involves many delicate questions.'

An inquiry into the state of the oxygen equipment, which Conefrey branded as 'appalling', was carried out in January 1925.

The Everest Committee allegedly promised to create a  sub-committee to 'deal with the whole question', but the author says there is no evidence to support it was followed through.

When Mallory and Irvine were last seen alive on June 8, 1924 by their climbing teammate Noel Odell, the pair were around 800 feet from the summit of Everest.

But the men vanished soon afterwards and the facts about what happened to them remain unclear. Odell went to search for them but was unsuccessful.

Mallory's body was found clad in hobnail boots just 2,000 feet from the summit of Everest in 1999. He had a rope around its waist and injuries consistent with the possibility that he and Irvine might have fallen while being roped together.

After the discovery of his body, historians raised the tantalising possibility that Mallory may have been the first man to reach the top of the world's tallest mountain.

But two crucial mysteries still remain unsolved after the 1999 discovery: what had happened to Irvine's body and where was the Vest Pocket Kodak camera the pair were said to be carrying that might contain crucial photographs proving the men had reached the top of Everest in their 1924 expedition?

With that evidence absent, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay continue to be credited with being the first climbers to reach the top of the Himalayan mountain - which straddles Nepal and China - in their 1953 expedition.

If Mallory and Irvine did reach the top of Everest, they would also have been the first to successfully do it on the deadly North Face, nearly 40 years before Chinese climbers accomplished the feat in 1960.