KATHMANDU: A 34-year-old Indian climber, who went missing on Monday while attempting to climb Mount Annapurna in Nepal, has been rescued, but is in critical condition, expedition organisers said on Thursday. The mountaineer, Anurag Maloo, had gone missing since the afternoon of April 17 after falling into a deep crevasse on Annapurna, which is the 10th highest mountain in the world.
“Maloo is currently at Manipal Hospital under doctors’ supervision,” Mingma Sherpa from Seven Summit Treks said over phone from Kathmandu. “He has been taken to the hospital in critical condition, but he is still alive”, Sudhir, his brother said.
A search operation to locate Maloo, a resident of Kishangargh in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district, had been going on since Monday. “He fell into a crevasse while returning from Camp IV”, Mingma Sherpa, the chairman of Seven Summit Treks had said. Maloo was descending from Camp III when he fell into a crevase at around 6,000 metres and went missing, the expedition organiser said.
The mountaineer had last year successfully ascended Mount Ama Dablam in the Eastern Himalayan range in Nepal and was planning to stand atop Mount Everest, Annapurna and Lhotse this season. He was also on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters and seven summits to create awareness and dive action towards achieving the UN Global Goals #ClimbingForSDGs.
On Tuesday, two other Indian mountaineers — Baljeet Kaur and Arjun Vajpayee — were rescued from Mount Annapurna in Nepal on Tuesday. Baljeet Kaur had gone missing above Camp IV of Mount Annapurna and was rescued from an elevation of 7363 metres. (ANI)