KATHMANDU, APRIL 23
Indian climber Anurag Maloo, who was rescued after a four-hour-long effort from a 70-metre-deep crevasse at Mt Annapurna on April 20, is still said to be in critical condition.
According to Sudhir Maloo, a family member of Anurag, the Indian climber was given CPR for three hours by Dr Asim Subedi at Manipal Hospital in Pokhara that helped revive Anurag, after which he was airlifted to Lalitpur-based Nepal Mediciti Hospital for further treatment.
"Reviving someone after three hours is a miracle on its own and we were filled with emotions. While his vitals have stabilised, much cannot be said at the moment as his health is still critical," he said.
Anurag had initially planned to climb Mt Annapurna without the use of supplementary oxygen.
However, after taking a longer time than usual to make the climb, he had no option but to use it.
After reaching the summit on April 16 and on his way down to lower camp the next day, Anurag fell into the crevasse while rappelling down the mountain, another Brazilian climber Moses who witnessed the incident shared. "Although we tried to help and shout at him in hopes of getting a response, it was not easy and he was not even visible," he said.
Meanwhile, another Sherpa accompanying Anurag radioed Chhepal Sherpa, expedition guide for Seven Summit Treks, who was at Camp II and informed him of the accident. Chhepal had then gone to the site of the incident and even tried to rappel down the crevasse to look for the climber with the help of a few others but suddenly found themselves at the mercy of the mountain when an avalanche struck, forcing them to retreat.
"I radioed some other members of our expedition team and asked them to bring ropes near the site of the incident. Thinking that we were short on ropes, we requested another person to bring ropes from Camp III. In the course of our search efforts for Anurag, an avalanche occurred forcing us to flee for our own lives and the search effort was called off for the day. The section where Anurag went missing is also one of the riskiest on the route to the summit and even the whole mountain," Chhepal told THT.
The next day, the need to airlift other injured climbers from the base camp of the mountain was prioritised alongside continued search efforts for the missing climber.
Pakistani climbers Shehroze Kashif, Naila Kiani, and Indian climber Arjun Vajpai were evacuated from Camp IV after they fell ill while descending from the summit point. Another Indian female climber Baljeet Kaur, who went missing above Camp IV on Mt Annapurna, was also rescued alive from 7,363 metres on April 18.
The rescue team comprised Tashi Sherpa, Chhepal Sherpa, Lakpa Nurbu Sherpa, Dawa Nurbu Sherpa, and Lakpa Sherpa from SST and renowned Polish alpinist Adam Bielecki and his fellow climber Mariusz Hatala had also joined the ground search and rescue team to locate Anurag.
On the morning of April 20, the rescue team entered the crevasse in search of the missing climber.
"While Lakpa Sherpa was assigned to keep an eye for any incoming avalanche, Tashi Sherpa along with Bielecki went into the crevasse for four hours before successfully lifting Anurag out of the pit and airlifting him to Pokhara.
Anurag attempted to scale Annapurna this season on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres and the seven highest points in all seven continents. He has been awarded REX Karam-Veer Chakra.
He also became the 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador from India.
Earlier, Noel Hanna, a 10-time Everest summiteer from Northern Ireland breathed his last at Camp IV of Mt Annapurna after he returned from the summit point on April 17.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 24, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
