KATHMANDU, MAY 19
Celebrated climber Nirmal 'Nims' Purja today reportedly landed at the high camp on Mt Everest flouting the rules set by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, eyewitnesses said.
Except for emergency rescue evacuations, helicopter flight above the Everest Base Camp has been banned. "Nims took a heli flight from Kathmandu at around 8:30am and he landed at the Camp II on Everest at around 11:30am," eyewitnesses from Camp II told THT.
CAAN, the country's aviation regulatory body, has banned helicopter flights above the base camp except for emergency rescue.
Eyewitnesses said that Nims rested for an hour at Lukla and boarded again on Airbus Helicopter H125/AS350 B3e with a call sign 9N-ANL for the base camp. "From the base camp, he flew to Camp II," they confirmed.
Nims used Prabhu Helicopters piloted by senior captain Sobit Gauchan for Kathmandu-Lukla-EBC-Camp II route, according to eyewitnesses.
"Initially there were five passengers – Nims, three foreigners and a Nepali guide - when Prabhu Helicopter took off for Lukla and Nims was alone in the flight from Lukla," eyewitnesses described. Prabhu Helicopters reportedly charged Nims a hefty sum to take him to Camp II from Kathmandu. "Kathmandu-Lukla fare was shared with other members, however, he took a solo flight for Camp II from Lukla."
Flight manifest, however, shows that five passengers boarded for Lukla from Kathmandu but Nims was taken to Camp II from Lukla via EBC by manipulating the flight records in the name of rescue operations, sources confirmed.
Authentic Everest climbing starts and ends at the base camp. "But, Nims chooses to escape the treacherous icefall section taking a direct flight to Camp II," eyewitnesses described, adding that he would probably attempt to scale Mt Everest along with his clients by Monday morning.
Not only the CAAN, on May 2, a division bench of justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Sushma Lata Mathema of the Supreme Court also issued a mandamus order directing the government to ban the use of helicopters from the base camps to high camps, except for emergency rescue.
Saying that passenger flights above the base camp are strictly prohibited, Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at CAAN, said that his office would immediately investigate the issue and take prompt action.
