Himachal mountaineer Baljeet Kaur rescued from Mt Annapurna in Nepal
28-year-old record-holding climber, who belongs to Plasta Panjrol village near Solan in Himachal Pradesh, had gone missing on Tuesday above Camp IV while she was descending from the top as she scaled the peak without using supplemental oxygen
Fortune favours the brave. Hours after going missing above Camp IV of Mt Annapurna while descending from the summit point in Nepal, Indian climber from Himachal Pradesh Baljeet Kaur, 28, was found alive above 7,300m.
Baljeet, who belongs to Plasta Panjrol village near Solan in Himachal Pradesh and is the first Indian mountaineer to scale four 8,000-metre peaks in less than a month, had gone out of radio contact on Monday. An aerial search mission was launched on Tuesday morning after she sent a radio signal asking for “immediate help”. Soon after, the search team located her and she was air-lifted.
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Pasang Sherpa, the chairman of a company organising the expedition, was quoted by Kathmandu-based The Himalayan Times as saying that Baljeet had gone missing above Camp IV while descending from the top as she scaled the peak without using supplemental oxygen.
On her rescue on Tuesday, the company released a statement saying, “We are thrilled to share that after being air-lifted from the mountain, Baljeet Kaur has safely arrived at Annapurna base camp and will soon be flown back to Kathmandu for medical examination. Baljeet’s accomplishment is truly remarkable, and we can’t help but admire her courage, strength and determination. Her extensive training, skills and preparation have played an instrumental role in overcoming this daunting incident. We applaud her outstanding achievement and commend her for being an inspiration for all of us. We wish Baljeet a swift and complete recovery.”
After news from Nepal of Noel Hanna, a 10-time Everest summiteer from Northern Ireland, breathing his last at Camp IV on returning from the summit point on Monday night, the spotlight shifted to Indian mountaineers Baljeet Kaur and Anurag Maloo, 34, from Kishangarh of Rajasthan, who had gone missing. While Baljeet went missing from above Camp IV on Annapurna, Anurag fell into a crevasse from around 6,000m. He was descending from Camp III in the same mountain on Monday and is still missing.
Fortunately, Baljeet was found alive on Tuesday morning.
She had tweeted a photo on April 9 in which she said she’s in “comfort zone”, resting at the Annapurna base camp.
The daughter of a retired bus driver of Himachal Road Transport Corporation, Amrik Singh, and homemaker Shanti Devi, she set a record by becoming the first Indian woman and the youngest to summit Mount Manaslu without oxygen.
Mt Annapurna is the 10th-highest mountain in the world, standing at 8,091 metres above sea level.
