Argentine actor, US combat amputee climb Mt Everest from Tibet side

KATHMANDU: Latin American actor Facundo Arana along with other nine members of an expedition team successfully climbed the Mt Everest on Monday morning.

The Argentine actor and musician along with his fellow climber cum business woman María Alejandra Ulehla successfully stood atop the world’s highest peak, according to Govinda Gurung, Managing Director at TAGnepal Treks & Expedition.

“Nine expedition members reached the top of world at around 11:35 am,” Gurung, who locally handled their expedition, told THT Online.

Arana (44) is the winner of various television and theatre awards in Argentina. Arana’s name is well known to all lovers of Argentine serials. During his long career after stepping into the world of big screen in 2004, this impressive macho played a myriad of roles in a variety of soap operas and television novels, according to his biography.

In 2012, Arana’s plan to make an attempt to climb the Mt Everest from Nepal side had remained unsuccessful after he complained of high altitude pulmonary as well as cerebral edema at the base camp at 5,364 metres, leading to his emergency evacuation to Kathmandu.

“But, he has accomplished his mission this time from the northern side,” Gurung said.

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Similarly, United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Charlie Linville (30) became the first combat-wounded veteran to summit the Mt Everest after he reached the top of the world from the Tibet side on May 19, according to the Los Angeles-based Heroes Project which leads mountaineering expeditions with gravely wounded veterans.

The Boise native and father of two, whose injuries in a 2011 blast in Afghanistan led to the amputation of his right leg below his knee, reached the summit with a prosthetic limb, it added.

American Staff Sergeant Chad Jukes (Rtd) who lost his right leg from the knee down due to an improvised explosive device detonation while serving in northern Iraq would also be trying to scale the mountain from northern side within the next couple of days, according to the USX Veteran Everest Expedition.

12:30 pm 5/19/16 Nepali time. Charlie Linville is the first combat wounded veteran to reach the top of #Everest. pic.twitter.com/KahdDbKAoY

— The Heroes Project (@HeroesProjectUS) May 20, 2016