Indian climber goes missing in Everest

An Indian climber has gone missing in Mount Everest since Saturday after descending from top of the world’s highest peak.

Ravi Kumar, a climber from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, went missing from near South Col of the mountain, his expedition organiser told Hindustan Times.

Kumar reached the top of Everest on Saturday afternoon and was climbing down with a Sherpa guide when he went out of contact from balcony area, a popular spot near South Col in Everest, Thupten Sherpa of Arun Treks told HT.

Lakpa Wongya Sherpa, who had accompanied Kumar reached Camp 4 of Mount Everest at 11:00 pm on Saturday. He was exhausted and fell unconscious.

“The ailing Sherpa was brought to Everest base camp. We had already sent a helicopter along with three other Sherpas for searching Kumar. The helicopter can only land on Camp 2 of the Everest. After landing in Camp 2, the Sherpas will trek up to South Col to find out the status of missing Indian climber,” Thupten Sherpa said.

Only last week, six Indian climbers had reached the top of Everest, becoming the first batch to ascent the peak this season. They are Suresh Babu, Durga Rao Kunja, Bharat Thammineni, Krishna Rao Vooyaka, Satya Rao Kare and Nagaraju Sundarana, from Andhra Pradesh.

First Published: May 21, 2017 16:33 IST